Four years ago, Bruce Springsteen traveled to Ohio to play an acoustic set for another Democratic nominee. His gig, at Ohio State University in Columbus, wasn’t without trouble. The power failed and the set was delayed for an hour. The crowd was a respectable, but not overwhelming, 25,000.

This time around, Springsteen has been playing free gigs without the candidate—until he returned to Ohio on Sunday night to appear onstage with Barack Obama. The crowd size: a much more impressive 80,000. His final song before bringing the Obama family on stage: "The Rising," which has become part of the soundtrack at each campaign rally.

The night wasn’t without problems. It started raining a few minutes into Obama’s speech, soon after he started poking fun at Dick Cheney’s endorsement of John McCain. “Sunshine is on the way,” he promised metaphorically. “We’ve got just two more days of these clouds.”

Still, Obama seemed not to care much about the weather when it came to his mood. After traveling with his family for the last 24 hours, the candidate seemed more upbeat than he has at most other events, where he normally warns his supporters against complacency.

“The last couple of days, I’ve been just feeling good,” he said. “And part of the reason that I’m feeling good is that because sometimes it’s lonely on the road. But when you’ve got a wife like Michelle Obama, when you’ve got daughters like Malia and Sasha Obama, and when they’re with you on the road, boy, everything looks a little better.

“The crowds seem to grow and everybody’s got a smile on their face. You start thinking that maybe we might be able to win an election on November 4th.”