Obama stops for ice cream--and people watching him scream

EUGENE -- Barack Obama just finished a surprise visit to Prince Puckler's ice cream parlor a few blocks from the University of Oregon. Within five minutes of his arrival, a crowd gathered to watch him nibble on mint chocolate chip and green tea ice cream, shake his hand and chant O-BAM-A as he hopped back on the bus.

He entered the shop with his wife, Michelle, and he was holding the infant child of his high school buddy Greg Orme.

Here are some randomly accumulated crowd comments. Savor them like they were high-brow gelatto:

"Is it OK if I'm, like 10 minutes late? Obama is at Prince Puckler's." -- UO junior Aaron Friedman, talking into his cell phone. He was actually, like, 20 minutes late.

"It's really cool because he looks right at you as you shake his hand." -- Rina Paguaga, a Eugene marketing consultant who was stopping for a treat after a bicycle ride.

"He has charisma. That's the problem with Hillary. She's herself, maybe, but she's too -- shrill." -- Ulrich Richers, who became a U.S. citizen two weeks ago and will vote Democrat in the general election.

"I shook his hand."
"Oh my god, what did you say?"
"I said, Good luck, Senator, can you get us out of Iraq?" -- Two people, whose names I wasn't able to get.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/elections/