Michelle Obama says Barack Obama 'gets' being in debt in Fort Wayne, Ind., speech

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — The wife of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama told an Indiana crowd Wednesday that his election would put someone who understands the struggles of average Americans in the White House.

Michelle Obama told about 1,000 people at the Grand Wayne Convention Center that she and her husband had large student loan debts after attending college. She said she believed the economic policies of the Bush administration had threatened the country’s middle class.

‘‘Barack Obama gets it. He gets it because he’s lived it,’’ she said. ‘‘Don’t we want someone in the White House who knows what it’s like to carry a little debt?’’

The Fort Wayne appearance was Michelle Obama’s second stop in Indiana during the fall campaign as she spoke in Fishers on Sept. 10. Barack Obama has made six Indiana stops since mid-July.

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s scheduled rally Friday in Noblesville, meanwhile, will be the first Indiana stop by a member of the GOP national ticket since John McCain’s July 1 visit to Indianapolis to speak to a national sheriffs convention.

Michelle Obama also encouraged supporters to continue volunteering their time and encouraged people to take advantage of early voting, which has been a major push of the Obama campaign.