Grant Park fills, waits

(TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)

CHICAGO -- The polls in many places won't close for another few hours, but the electricity at Chicago's Grant Park, where Barack Obama will address supporters later tonight, is already high.

The area inside the security perimeter resembles a mini tent city, where hundreds of media -- reportedly nearly 3,000 representatives of the press sought credentials -- are swarming. Writers are hunched over laptops. TV anchors are doing stand-ups. Radio reporters are huddled in their designated spot behind the main riser.

The stage set, in contrast to the massive Greek columns behind him at his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, is a fairly humble affair, featuring a wooden podium, a row of American flags against a navy blue backdrop, giant TV screens showing CNN, and towers of speakers ready to broadcast Obama's speech to the masses. Security, on the eve of the country having a new president, is even tighter than it has been; workers have installed panels of bullet-proof glass on either side of the podium.