Supporters Lined Streets Along Obama’s Path Through New York

AUBURN, N.Y. (AP) — It's the curse — or maybe the blessing — of living in a place that doesn't make or break presidential elections: The president and those running for the job just don't come around very often.

So President Barack Obama's two-day bus tour this week through swaths of western and central New York, a state that reliably backs Democrats in presidential elections, set the region abuzz.

Cheering crowds and curious onlookers lined the streets hoping for a glimpse of the president through the tinted windows of his armored bus. Residents gathered at local restaurants and other hot spots on the off chance Obama might drop by. And the newspaper in the small city of Auburn, N.Y., deployed nearly its entire staff of 12 to cover the president's visit.