MADISON (WKOW) -- President Barack Obama is likely to attract tens of thousands of supporters for his campaign rally on Bascom Hill this Thursday.
But hundreds of his detractors also plan on making their presence felt.
A number of UW-Madison students are volunteering to get out the word out about the President's visit, while some conservative activists are planning an event of their own for that afternoon.
Student volunteers spent Tuesday afternoon at a local Obama campaign office making signs for Thursday's rally.
"We're making as many as we can right now, before we go register voters later," said volunteer Peter Anich, a UW Senior. "Obviously, we're going to fill up the hill, everyone's excited to see the President."
But the students are doing a lot more than just drawing.
"We have three or four shifts a day of canvassing, about three hours long and then we also have a couple phone banks a week. We have a couple more this week, just with the President's visit, just making sure everyone knows its going on," said volunteer Janel Alters, also a UW Senior.
"I think we need people advocating for students, because they're so affected by lots of different policies about education and health care and especially the job market," said Anich.
Not everyone going to the Obama event is actually a supporter of the President.
A number of protesters will also be there, many of which will gather first at the VFW Post on E. Lakeside Street.
"This is a stop in our national bus tour on Obama's failed agenda," Luke Hilgemann, the Wisconsin State Director for Americans For Prosperity. "We've been taking this coast to coast spreading the message that the President's economic policies aren't living up to the promises that they've made."
Wisconsin AFP hopes to attract at least 200 people to rally and send a message to the President.
"We have more than 23 million Americans who are unemployed, our debt now stands at 16 trillion dollars. We think there's a better approach and we're building grass roots pressure behind our approach to hopefully balance the budget and put people back to work," said Helgemann.
