Barack Obama won Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's endorsement on Thursday, but the Illinois senator's wife evoked tears of hope from an enthused crowd at Cleveland State University.

"I thought that never in my lifetime would I ever see this opportunity," Connie Wingo of Cleveland said between joyous sobs. "I have a 13-year-old son, and for the first time, I feel like anything is possible for him.

"I feel American -- not just African-American, not just a woman, but an American -- for the first time in my life," the 52-year-old Cleveland woman said.