Huge crowd in Ybor waits for Obama tickets

"I want to make sure to personally thank him (Obama) on Friday," the mayor told CL while taking a break from shaking hands and posing for pictures with enthusiastic supporters. "And tell everybody in that audience what that investment in infrastructure does for cities, not just for me but for mayors all across the country."

Buckhorn calls the Kennedy segment "the last missing piece," which will connect Curtis Hixon Park south underneath the Kennedy Boulevard Bridge to the existing Riverwalk past the Sheraton Hotel. The mayor said construction could "conceivably" begin on the project by the end of this year, and will take about a year to complete.

Among those in the crowd psyched to see Obama this coming Friday were Tina Peggs and Diana Martelli from Tampa.

Peggs said she hoped that Mitt Romney wouldn't "buy the election. Because he's for the rich."

The two women also expressed concerns about the voting purge of non-citizens that has elicited yet another lawsuit.

"That's a big issue for us," said Martelli.

Both women said they would like to see the president improve the economy. Peggs worked at Tampa General for 17 years as a telecommunications operator but was laid off in 2009, and has been unemployed ever since.

Diana Martelli also worked at Tampa General Hospital and has been without a job for the last year. She said her main concern was a lack of health coverage.

The Ybor OFA office has been a hotbed of activity in recent days. On Sunday, actress Kerry Washington appeared there to pump up volunteers who were going out to register voters.