Michele Obama's Van Crashes Into Motorcycle During Iowa Campaign

Obama was campaigning in Iowa with local community members and activists.

Michelle Obama Photo courtesy: 55secretstreet.typepad.com/

(HAMPTON, Iowa) - The wife of Presidential Hopeful Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, was riding in a campaign van today in Iowa that collided with a motorcycle, sending its rider to the hospital in an ambulance.

Michelle Obama was not injured, nor were the people riding in her Chevrolet Uplander.

The crash disabled the vehicle though, and spelled an end for the day's campaign activities.

The crash happened on Iowa State Road 65. Michelle Obama was traveling in a two-car caravan moving toward an event scheduled at a park in Franklin County.

Witnesses told police that the van which was driven by a campaign aide, was starting to make a left turn when the motorcycle traveling behind the van, which reportedly had been passing cars on the left, smashed into the left rear side of the van.

After striking Obama's vehicle, the bike and rider went down an embankment where the rider lay still.

Obama's campaign team called 911 to report the accident to police.

The motorcyclist, 40-year-old Tim Emerson of Iowa Falls, is a hydraulic mechanic according to media reports.

The rider reportedly came to a landing on fairly soft ground, he did not have a crash helmet on.

Emerson remained conscious after the crash. Paramedics arrived arrived on the scene and transported Emerson to the hospital in a ground ambulance.

"Our only worry is that he's okay," spokesperson for the Obama campaign in Iowa, Tommy Vietor, told reporters.

"Everyone's biggest hope is that the motorcycle rider is going to be OK." The event marked an end for the campaign day. Forty people waited in a park shelter for more than 75 minutes while the Obama staffers gave statements to police.

Michelle Obama said they were, "a little shaken, but fortunately it could have been a lot worse."

She had returned to Iowa for events in Waterloo, Iowa Falls, Hampton, Eagle Grove, Fort Dodge, Rockwell City, Jefferson, and Boone. This week marked Michelle's 10th visit to Iowa since her husband announced his candidacy.

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I WANT TO SEE MCICHELLE OBAMA VISIT THE HIDDEN CHILDREN IN THE MOUNTAINSTHE APPLACJ=HIAN CHILDREN

She is a fine woman and a white punk like myself will never know what it is like to be with a classy woman, I can only wonder.

He has a point, Tim. Ah well...

Tim, in all fairness I think you have the headline and the opening sentence backwards. Sounds to me like the motorcycle crashed into the van. No, I'm not an Obama supporter, but fair is fair and the opening of this article is misleading. It leads the reader to initially think Obama is at fault in this accident. It's not until the third paragraph that we learn it's the other way 'round.

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