"You don't get introduced by John Glenn every day," Bruce Springsteen said, breaking into an impromptu version of Mr. Spaceman.

The Ohio State University campus was in a festive mood yesterday as the rock legend performed a seven-song, solo acoustic set on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. The free event, one of several Springsteen is doing for the Illinois senator, highlighted Ohio's early-voting law.

On a warm and sunny early fall day, students wearing Obama T-shirts came to the Oval in droves, families sat on blankets, soccer balls rolled, dogs ran, Frisbees flew.

Springsteen's appearance came on the eve of today's deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 4 election. It is also the last day for people to register and vote at the same time; early voting will continue until the election. Obama's campaign has pushed to get voters -- especially younger voters and African-Americans -- registered in time to cast absentee ballots.

The strategy appeared to be working, as lines snaked out the door yesterday at the Veterans Memorial early-voting site on W. Broad Street. Some people waited more than an hour and a half to vote.

The crowd at OSU cheered for Springsteen's performance of Thunder Road, Youngstown, No Surrender and The Rising, but it fell silent when he paused to discuss his political views about the "American house of dreams."

"I don't know about you, but I want that dream back," he said. "I want my America back. I want my country back."

Springsteen recalled being in Columbus four years ago at a similar rally for Democratic Sen. John Kerry. "This time, we're winning," he added.

Republicans had encouraged those who back their candidate, Arizona Sen. John McCain, to attend the concert, register and vote. But there was little evidence of Republican supporters at the event other than a few dozen protesters outside the fence chanting and waving McCain-Palin signs.

There have been 6,856 people vote during the first six days of early voting, according to the Franklin County Board of Elections. That's more than the total absentee ballots cast in person before the March 4 primary.

Preliminary data indicate that more than 60 percent of those who also registered to vote in Franklin County during the early-voting period were younger than 34 years old -- and more than 80 percent of voters already registered with a party who cast absentee ballots were Democrats.

It took Nathan Laney, 19, of the East Side, 90 minutes to register and vote at Veterans Memorial yesterday. "I like the convenience of it -- to do both at the same time," Laney said.

Margie Davis voted early yesterday because she'll be working the polls on Election Day. It took her 90 minutes to vote, which was a refreshing change from 2004 when long lines forced her to take the day off work.

In the crowd at OSU was actor Luke Perry, an Ohio native born just an hour up the road in Mansfield. Perry said he was filming a movie in Sweden when he decided he needed to return to Ohio to help Obama.

"This is the most important election since Abraham Lincoln," Perry said. He has already been to Kenyon College and will campaign for Obama at Ohio University today.

Alexander Garcia and his wife, Babeth, of Bexley, brought their children, Juliette, 4, and Marius, 1, to the Springsteen rally. Garcia said he likes Obama's proposal to dramatically expand affordable health care.

"My wife is from France, and we lived there awhile," Garcia said. "We saw firsthand what good health care can be. It's not some sort of socialist takeover."

Dispatch reporters Mark Niquette and Sherri Williams contributed to this story.

ajohnson@dispatch.com