CHICAGO – The change in venue for President Obama’s election night rally here reflects the change in his political profile from the nation’s first African-American major party nominee with a solid lead in the polls to something a bit more typical, an incumbent whose chances of winning a second term are a bit uncertain.

Obama this time around is planning to speak to the public from behind the walls of a Chicago convention center instead of Grant Park, the scene in 2008 of Obama’s victory speech that attracted an estimated 240,000 people. Chicagoans still remember that emotional 2008 scene and have lamented the change.