The appearance of a top-tier presidential candidate brought a crowd of thousands to Central Campus for the final day of Political Action Week.

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., made his first stop in Ames since last February when he announced his candidacy for the 2008 presidential campaign. Obama was introduced by members of Students for Barack Obama.

Obama made his way down the steps of Curtiss Hall, with people lined up on either side of him, as the song “Think” by Aretha Franklin played over the loud-speakers.

Obama also mentioned the football game last week and congratulated Iowa State on the win.

“I’ve got to be careful, because I need Hawkeye votes, too,” he said with a smile.

Obama only took three questions from the crowd of thousands, one related a topic that has been in the news lately, especially in Iowa: Gay marriage.

“I am a strong supporter of civil unions,” he said. “But I also believe that civil unions have to have the equivalent legal rights as a marriage license.”

Obama did not say whether he supported same-sex marriage.

“Right now, there are about 1,200 legal rights that are available to married couples that aren’t available to same-sex couples, even if the state recognizes civil unions,” he said. “And that’s not fair, that’s discriminatory, and it’s going to need to change.

Obama was also asked about the Jena 6 situation playing out in Louisiana right now.

“I feel the same way that I’ve been feeling since I was a community organizer in Chicago,” he said.

Obama said the justice system in unequal.

“What that tells me is the problem that we have is a criminal justice system that is still not working as it should because it does not provide equal justice across the board,” he said.

Keith Mensah, sophomore in political science, said it was his first time seeing Obama speak.

“I thought he was legit,” he said.

Mensah said he thought Obama is for everybody, not just for a specific group of people.

Alyssa Baker, freshman in liberal arts and sciences-open option, also said she had never seen Obama speak. Although she’s not “very political,” she said Obama was good with the people and relating to them.

During his speech, Obama went over his goals for office.

Obama said he wanted to invest in education and make higher education more affordable.

“I think it’s about time that a college degree is affordable and accessible to every single American,” he said.

He said debts for students need to be reduced.

“You need to slate with a clean state when you get out of college,” Obama said. “And we can do it if we stop subsidizing the banks, and the financial institutions and put that money directly in your pocket in the form of grants and loans.”

Obama also said people he wanted to create a system for those who go into the service industry, including teaching, police, social work, and to “travel overseas on behalf of the United States.”

“If you want to do something that is contributing and giving back to this nation, then you will be able to do so because we’re going to pick up the tab on your college education.”

Global warming was also an issue in Obama’s speech.

“I don’t accept that we can’t solve global warming,” he said. “If we increase fuel efficiency standards on cars to 40 miles per gallon, we would save the equivalent to all the oil we import from the Persian Gulf.”

Obama also hit on one of his most notable stances, the Iraq war.

“At the beginning of this year, I announced, a plan to begin in a careful, orderly way, to start bringing our troops home,” he said.

Although President Bush vetoed the bill with a timetable for troop withdrawal, Obama said the issue should not be over.

“That doesn’t mean we should give up, that doesn’t mean we should stop,” he said. “We don’t have to wait for President Bush to end this war.”

Obama said the first thing he would do as president was figure out a way to get the troops out of Iraq.