MUNCIE — Mary Baker-Boudissa, 34, hoped her 10-year-old son Stephen would shake presidential candidate Barack Obama’s hand before the end of his stop in Muncie on Saturday morning.

“If I can get him to shake Obama’s hand, it’s been a good day,” she said.

Baker-Boudissa got more than she dreamed of when Stephen, who attends Erskine Elementary School, was one of the few in the audience to ask Obama a question during the last half of the program.

“Since kids can’t vote, what can we do to have a say in what goes on?” Stephen asked the candidate.

“You seem like a smart kid; I’ve got a daughter who’s 9,” Obama said jokingly. “She doesn’t really like boys yet. Submit your resume when you’re 18.”

Obama did give Stephen some practical options as he stood in front of the 3,000-person crowd in Irving Gym on the Ball State University campus.

“It’s true that you can’t vote, but that doesn’t mean you can’t help,” he said. “Start learning about the world. ... You can also start helping out on our campaign, find out more about what I stand for. ... You could persuade your parents to vote for me.

“The main thing you can do right now is to get more information. The more you learn about the world, the better prepared you can be when you can vote. Not just to vote, but maybe you’ll run for something.”

Obama addressed young and old at the last stop of his four-day bus tour through Indiana. As he spoke about the Iraq war, health care, education, ethanol and other issues, the energized crowd cheered and clapped for the candidate.

“I have been running for president for about 15 months now,” Obama said. “That means that since I announced, there are now babies who were born and are now walking and talking.”

Obama, at age 47, is relatively young for a presidential candidate, he said, and many people have asked him why he did not wait to run.

“I’m running because of what Dr. (Martin Luther) King (Jr.) called the fierce urgency of now.”

Obama said the country is at a point where things must change.

The fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq where $10 billion is spent a month, rising health care costs, rising food costs, rising gas prices, poor education averages and less jobs are contributing to a strapped society, he said.

“In such circumstances, we can’t afford to wait,” he said. “We can’t wait to fix our schools. We can’t wait to fix our health care system. We can’t wait to bring back good jobs with good wages. We can’t wait to end the war in Iraq. We can’t wait, and that’s why I’m running for president.”

On education, Obama said he would change No Child Left Behind and give teachers and schools support financially.

“No Child Left Behind had a good idea behind it, which is every child wins; I believe that,” he said. “It was poorly conceived (because it was not funded).”

Obama’s plan includes investment in early childhood education programs and better salary for teachers, he said.

Testing children at the beginning of a school year would give teachers a tool with which to teach, but the test, he said, would not be used as a basis for school evaluation.

“It’s just to see where the kids are at,” he said.

Also, Obama said, he would provide $4,000 for tuition credit for every college student, every year, but with the requirement that students provide some community service.

After accusations Friday by Sen. Hillary Clinton that Obama was being an elitist because of comments he had made referring to small-town voters in small towns “bitter,” Obama revisited the subject in Muncie, explaining his word choice.

“The big problem we have right now is that people are just so cynical,” he said. “This is what I meant the other day — people are bitter. You know, when you use a job, and you see the plant close 20, 25 years ago, and every four years politicians come in and say ‘We’re going to get these jobs back,’ and the jobs don’t come back, people lose faith in their government, they lose hope. And so we got to go and persuade them that in fact we cannot be able to bring those same jobs back, but we can bring new jobs.”

Obama has stated throughout his campaign that he would not accept campaign contributions from lobbyists and political action committees.

“I’ve said consistently throughout my campaign, it’s not enough for us to change political parties in the White House,” he said. “We’ve got to change how business is done in Washington.”

According to his latest finance report, Obama had raised $193,600,733 compared to Clinton’s $169,003,120.

“I’ve raised more money from you than anybody has ever raised before,” he said.

Obama finished his speech reminding voters that he would not be a perfect president because he’s not a perfect person.

“I will always tell you what I think,” he said. “I will always tell you where I stand. I will be honest about the challenges we face every day.”