First Lady: In The End, All Elections Are About Hope [VIDEO]

Michelle Obama's stop at Southern New Hampshire University Thursday was the last in a string of campaign visits around the Granite State.

But the heat and the campaign bustle didn't slow her down – she arrived on time and was all fired up and ready to go to bat for her husband, touting his accomplishments over the past four years, to an appreciative crowd.

The first lady emphasized the importance of grassroots campaigning, and thanked those in the crowd who are in the trenches getting out the vote for the president's reelection.

She focused on what she said have been the president's priorities over the past four years, including his dedication to making higher education more affordable, his push to advance a plan for health care coverage for all Americans, saving jobs by investing in the American auto manufacturing industry, and campaign promises he has kept, such as bringing troops home from war.

She said that in the end, all elections are about hope.

"As my husband likes to say, it takes one voice to change a room, and if it can change a room, it can change a city; and if it can change a city, it can change a state; and if it can change a state, it can change a nation – that's how change always happens. It's a slow process," Obama said. "In the end, this is really what elections are all about: Hope – our hopes for our children and the world we want to leave for them."

Among those in the crowd were Betsy Burtis of Derry, who said the president's reelection is even more critical to the future of our country than his election was four years ago.

"I don't understand the complaints that he hasn't created any jobs. He's asked Congress several times for a jobs package and they haven't yet delivered," Burtis said. "I'm worried about what it would mean for the middle class if he's not reelected."

Shalanda Thomas was multitasking as the crowd of about 1,575 filed out of the field house, walking and scrolling.

"I got some great photos," she said, flipping through her up-close-and-personal photos of the First Lady, captured on her iPad.

Thomas, of Miami, Fla., is a student at SNHU. It's her last semester there, on her way to a master's degree in sport management, with a minor in athletic administration.

"I would eventually like to get involved in event planning and the Olympics," said Thomas, who said she watched Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps win another gold medal, on her iPad, while waiting for Obama to arrive.

"It was pretty exciting," she said, of Obama's visit – and also of Phelps gold medal win.

"I got to shake her hand, and I just said 'Thank you, for all your hard work,'" Thomas said. "Especially for the work they are doing to help college students."