Obama tickets sell out within 2 hours

Raleigh, N.C. — People lined up in downtown Raleigh Monday afternoon for free tickets to a speech by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama.

The senator is scheduled to talk about economic issues at the Exposition Center at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds on Tuesday evening.

Over 2,000 tickets were distributed Monday at campaign headquarters at 130 E. Morgan St. in Raleigh and at 215 E. Chatham St. in Cary, beginning at 5 p.m. The tickets were gone within two hours.

The Obama campaign has targeted North Carolina as one of seven Republican-leaning states that it believes it can pull into the Democratic column in November. The candidate has made nine campaign stops in North Carolina, most recently on June 9.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the GOP's presumptive nominee, has added a full paid staff in North Carolina, but is not running television ads yet.

McCain led Obama by four percentage points in a WRAL News poll released Friday. That lead was extended from one point a month earlier.

The Democratic National Convention opens in Denver next Monday. The GOP convention begins Sept. 1.