President Obama Spends The Night in Cedar Rapids

By Sam Lane, Reporter

President Barack Obama's motorcade arrives at the Marriott Hotel on Tuesday night, Aug. 14, 2012, in Cedar Rapids. (Liz Martin/The Gazette-KCRG)

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By Aaron Hepker

Story Created: Aug 14, 2012 at 10:57 PM CDT

Story Updated: Aug 14, 2012 at 11:12 PM CDT

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - A small number of area residents and visitors to local hotels gathered behind the Cedar Rapids Marriott Tuesday night for a chance to see President Obama and his motorcade.

The presidential motorcade -- complete with around a dozen vehicles, including a charter bus bearing the Seal of the President dubbed "Ground Force One" -- entered the Marriott parking lot, 1200 Collins Road NE, through the rear entrance shortly before 10 p.m. Iowa State Patrol marked cars helped lead the motorcade. Cedar Rapids police cars also patrolled each entrance.

Officials set up a wooden fence around the hotel's property and large semis and construction tractors were situated around the perimeter of the hotel. It was unclear how many people staying in the hotel, if any, were displaced as a result of the president's stay.

Obama is in the midst of a three-day Iowa bus tour that began Monday in Council Bluffs. On Wednesday, he will speak in Dubuque and Davenport. On the campaign stops, Obama is addressing the middle class economy. Before coming to Cedar Rapids, he spoke to a crowd of 1,800 at the RiverLoop Amphitheater in Waterloo.

"My wife said, 'I hope the campaigns don't interfere with your business trip'," Kaufman said. "I thought it was [presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt] Romney or [presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee Paul] Ryan. I didn't think it'd be the president."

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