Thousands of people poured into The University of New Mexico's Johnson Field Saturday night, transforming the area into a night-time dance party and rock event with Barack Obama as the guest of honor.

The line to see Obama snaked for blocks, and some had waited since noon to enter the gates at 7 p.m.

UNM student Michelle Jewitt said she had a class that ended at 1 p.m. and got in line instead of going to the library to study.

"When I saw the line, I just decided to stay," she said. Although she had seen Obama speak before, she wanted to bring her two sons. "This is history. I hope he will be our next president, and they can look back as adults and say, 'I was there the first time we had an African American president.' "

Obama took the stage shortly after 9 p.m. and went right at Republican John McCain, who had been in Albuquerque earlier Saturday. "John McCain has been really angry about George Bush's economic policies. He adopted all of them. John McCain is so opposed to George Bush's policies, he voted for them 90 percent of the time. That's right, John McCain decided to stick it to George Bush 10 percent of the time," he said.

Obama also spoke about his own agenda, saying he would create 5 million jobs in the field of green technology in next decade and millions more in infrastructure and road construction.

"We won't build the fuel efficient cars of the future in South Korea or Japan; we will build them right here," he said.

Fire officials at UNM told the Obama campaign the crowd was estimated at 35,000 inside the sports field and another 10,000 outside.

Alex Portelo, a retired 57-year old, who was near the front said Obama "has what it takes, and he knows how to show it off. This is the one that is going to make a new way for our new generation. ... This is the change we need."

"It's kind of a new day for America," added Albuquerque resident Fred Lacher, a retired information technology worker. He's the kind of person we need right now in our history. ... The old days are dying off," he said,

Jewitt agreed something is different about this election. "I've never even cared that much about an election this much in my life. ... Something is different; there's a different energy."

Comedian George Lopez preceded Obama and joked about the Frontier restaurant, a late-night favorite across from UNM. "I've been drunk having breakfast at the Frontier," he said.

Gov. Bill Richardson, who had campaigned for Obama earlier Saturday in Colorado, gave his assessment of the crowd. "I would say we have 300,000 people here. ... It's a lot. There will be an official estimate, but that's my official estimate," he joked.

Saturday's appearances by McCain and Obama are each candidate's sixth public visit to the state this campaign season.

With early voting already under way, both campaigns are also taking a last stab at attracting undecided voters getting supporters to vote early.

As comedian Lopez admonished the crowd, Hispanics "had a chance to do something we never do — be early."

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com.