Democratic presidential frontrunner Barack Obama was supposed to take the stage at the St. Pete Times Forum at noon, but officials inside the Forum say he’ll address the crowd at 12:30.

While waiting for their candidate to take the stage, a diverse crowd of fans wearing “O-Train” T-shirts and holding blue Obama signs are cheering and doing “the wave” around the Forum.

Police estimate the crowd at 15,000, although Forum officials were expecting more than 20,000. The top tier of the arena has a smattering of people, but it’s hard to find an empty seat on the bottom two tiers. So far, it appears the giant-screen television just outside the Forum won’t be needed to handle an overflow crowd. However, officials are hopeful downtown workers may trickle over on their lunch hour to catch Obama’s speech on the big screen.

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