One city, two bosses: Springsteen and Obama rally Madison crowd on eve of election

President Barack Obama thanks Bruce Springsteen after The Boss played a set before the masses in Madison, Wisconsin.

Photo by Natasha Korecki

***Updated with Springsteen remarks ***

MADISON, WISC. -Thousands of people filled the streets around Wisconsin’s Capitol Monday morning to hear one boss sing – and another stump for his reelection.

With the aide of his guitar and harmonica, Bruce Springsteen’s legendary voice echoed through downtown Madison as he offered a spirited boost to President Barack Obama in this must-win swing state.

On the eve of his attempt at reelection, Obama began his race to the finish line in Madison, having arrived here at 3 a.m. It was his first of many stops in swing states on Monday. Obama will spend election day in Chicago.

“It will be great to feel the power of your voices and your votes tomorrow. I’m here today for Wisconsin, America and for President Obama,” Springsteen said to cheers.

Springsteen played a short set, opening with “No Surrender” and spent some time imploring the crowd to vote tomorrow.

“I’m a husband and a dad, my lovely wife Patti is here with me,” Springsteen told the crowd. “We’ve got three kids growing up and on their way out into the world, I’m 63 (Patti is much younger)… but we have both lived through some galvanizing moments in American history: the Civil Rights struggle, the Peace Movement, the Woman’s Movement, we played in East Berlin one year before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, and we were with Amnesty International a year before the release of Nelson Mandela and the end of apartheid. These were days when you could feel the winds of change moving and the world shifting beneath your feet.

And… we both remember another galvanizing moment, the night that President Obama was elected.”

Obama was greeted to a sea of blue waving signs that read “Forward,” on them.

In thanking Springsteen before his remarks, Obama said: “I get to fly around with him on the last day that I ever campaign.”

Obama highlighted his record but acknowledged that some of his promises have been slow to come into reality.

“Wisconsin…you may be frustrated by the pace of change…trust me, so am I sometimes,” Obama told the crowd.

He won cheers when he talked about what he would salvage if he were reelected.

“As long as I’m president, I’m not going to kick some kid off of Head Start, so I can give another millionaire a tax cut.”