First Lady Michelle Obama Urges Supporters to Work Hard Over Next 8 Days at Iowa City Rally

Michelle Obama clearly has some fans in Iowa City.

As she was rounding up her speech, a man in the audience felt inspired enough to shout out a question as she was speaking Monday afternoon in front of an enthusiastic crowd of about 500 supporters at the Sheraton Hotel Ball Room.

"Michelle, will you marry me?"

"Sorry," the first lady replied with a smile. "I'm already taken."

She did, however, share some love right back to Iowa City. Noting that it was in this city and this state where their ascendancy to the White House began, and that it was emotional to come full circle.

"I'm not going to cry right here in front of all these cameras, but just let me tell you, we love you so much."

The First Lady spent a little over a half an hour on stage speaking in favor of her husband's character and his accomplishments as president, serving up applause line after applause line to the delight of audience members. Over the course of the speech she touted her husband's economic accomplishments in the wake of a major depression, as well as social issues such as allowing gays to serve openly in the military and issuing executive orders on immigration.

Iowa's Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a statement responding to the visit.

“Iowa women have been ill-served by President Obama’s failed policies," Reynolds said in the statement. "Since he took office, over 400,000 women have lost their jobs and 3.6 million more women live in poverty – this is far from moving forward. We deserve better, we can do better."

Similar to her speech at the Democratic National Convention, she connected her and the president's working class backgrounds with the campaign's stated desire to strengthen the middle class.

"This country was built by people who wake up every day to work for their families without complaint or regret," Michelle Obama. "[the President has] been fighting for us."

Although she never named the president's rival Mitt Romney by name, she made multiple references to the president's character, that "truth matters," and that the wealthy should not be able to play by a different set of rules-- contrasts to the perception of candidate Romney being cast by the Obama campaign.

She also reached out to vital women voters, emphasizing the president's protection of women's rights such as contraception coverage and the ability to make decisions about their own bodies, as well as his signing of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

The First Lady closed by emphasizing the need for audience members to work hard over the next eight days in the election, and to take advantage of early voting in Iowa.

"This election is going to be a close one, and it could come down to one state like right here in Iowa," she said. "I just want you to remember that what we do in the next eight days will make the difference between waking up and wondering if we could have done more. I don't want to wake up to that feeling."

The First Lady's visit comes with time running out in an extremely close presidential race. A Real Clear Politics aggregation of recent polling gives President Obama a 49 to 46.7 advantage in Iowa over his presidential rival Mitt Romney. Michelle Obama will be traveling to a similar event in Sioux City this afternoon.

The First Lady was preceded in her speech by U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack who promised that he and the president would never privatize social security or voucherize healthcare. He also hammered on the consistent theme of the Obama campaign to strengthen the middle class.

Each the introductory speakers also emphasized voting early. When Loebsack asked the crowd if they had voted early more than half raised their hands in the the affirmative.

"You're going to go out there and get even more people out to vote, right?" Loebsack said to cheers.

Iowa, while not as vital as big electoral prizes like Ohio, Virginia or Florida, could play a deciding role for either candidate to reach 270 electoral votes in a close election.

In Iowa the Obama campaign has been encouraging its supporters to vote early at several events featuring celebrities and Democratic political heavyweights, hoping to bank votes from voters that may be less likely to vote on election day.

This push for early voting if it continues at its current rate will likely set an Iowa record for voting prior to the election. As of today, over 600,000 absentee ballots had been requested, with 470,801 received. Democrats maintain their early vote lead at the moment, with 209,750 early votes submitted, Republicans have 151,007, and Independents have 109,493.

One of those early voters was Lidia Gomez, 38, a chiropractor who traveled all the way from Davenport to see the First Lady. She said that she felt more connected with the First Family after hearing details about their background.

"She connected to us, she connected to the people," Gomez. "I thought the speech was very encouraging, very uplifting."

Gomez says she supports the president's proposed approach to improving the economy as well as his support for protecting the health decisions of women.

Another woman, Celia Clemons, 59, who lives in New York but originally hailed from Iowa City, said the First Lady's words made her feel clear that President Obama was her genuine choice for president.

"She answered all tof the doubts, because there is only one candidate who is the real candidate, where the other candidate just makes promises," she said.

After the event, a portion of the crowd walked over to the Iowa City Public Library to vote early. Early voting ends on Nov. 5. Satellite voting is available Monday through Friday at the Iowa City Public Library.

Other visitors to Iowa this week include Vice President Joe Biden, former Iowa governor and current Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer.