INDIANAPOLIS -- Sen. Barack Obama stumped for votes today at a restaurant in Greenwood, Ind., and outside a polling place in Indianapolis.

Obama spent about 45 minutes at the Four Seasons Family Restaurant in Greenwood ("Try our catfish," a sign outside reads) and 20 minutes outside the polling place, which was at Butler University's Hinkle Fieldhouse.

At the restaurant, about 50 people were eating breakfast when Obama walked in at 7:40 a.m. He went from table to table, chatting briefly with patrons about the economy and gas prices before sitting down to breakfast.

One of his first encounters went poorly. He approached a man sitting alone at a table and was waved away. The man told me afterward he had no interest in meeting Obama.

"I can't stand him," he said. "He's a Muslim. He's not even pro-American as far as I'm concerned."

Obama seemed unfazed. He had better luck at a round table where several men were eating. They said they regularly gather there to eat breakfast and talk politics. They've dubbed the spot "the Johnson County Roundtable."

The conversation turned to fuel prices, and Obama reprised his argument with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton over the gas tax holiday.

"The problem with it is you take away 5% in federal taxes and the oil companies just raise their prices 5% and it never gets to the consumer," said Obama. "So it makes them more profits. So what I've said in the short term is let's give a tax break to the folks. In the long term we're going to have to figure out how to use oil more efficiently."

Obama got a bit of a surprise at one table. While talking to three men eating breakfast, one handed him the bill. "This will seal the thing," he said. Obama accepted it, and later took it to the cashier and paid it.

Steve Czajkowski, a pastor at the Community Church of Greenwood, later told reporters he liked Obama, but was a Canadian citizen and could not vote.

Obama's meal was hardly a casual one. A battery of cameras captured every forkful of omelet and hash browns.

"You guys ever get tired of taking pictures"' Obama asked the pool.

People approached him throughout the meal, shaking hands and posing for pictures. One man, Roscoe George, handed him a cellphone so Obama could talk to his wife.

"I think we campaigned hard and well in this state," Obama said, sitting on a stool at the restaurant counter. Nodding to the man eating breakfast to his right, 59-year-old Rick Jones, Obama said he "met wonderful people like this gentleman right here. And I think it's going to be close. I don't think anybody knows exactly what's going to happen. But as usual, I'm seeing a lot of enthusiasm among the voters. People are really engaged and excited about this campaign."

He was eating the "house omelet" -- made with ham, feta cheese and vegetables ($6.95). I asked him about all the voters he's met of late who've told him he looks thin.

"I'm trying to fatten up," he said. "They give me five minutes to eat."

He turned to Jones: "It's true. I've lost about seven or eight pounds."

At his next stop, at the Hinkle Fieldhouse, Obama prowled the parking lot looking for people on their way in to cast ballots.

"Any more voters?" he would say. Aides said Obama was careful to meet the requirement that candidates stay 50 feet from the polling place.

"President Obama!" called out Tracie Nelson, 37, a healthcare recruiter from Indianapolis. "That has a ring to it, doesn't it?" Obama said.

The two posed for a picture. "I'm in awe," she said. "Typically, I'm not like that with human beings. But this guy here is amazing."

So, she voted for him then? Indeed.

"Are you kidding me?" Nelson said. "His wife has my vote!"

Obama had some fun when handed a brochure for a judicial candidate, David J. Dreyer. The pitch came from the man's daughter, 16-year-old Hannah Dreyer, a high school student from Indianapolis wearing an Obama T-shirt.

Obama read aloud from the card:

"'One of our best judges in Marion County'; 'Treats everyone with respect.'"

"He's the man!" Obama said.