In Copenhagen, First Lady Michelle Obama Campaigns for Chicago's 2016 Olympic Bid

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Sept. 30, 2009— -- From the moment her feet touched the ground here in Denmark, first lady Michelle Obama was in campaign mode, lending her clout to Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games.

"We are fired up and ready to go," she said at a welcome reception for Chicago boosters this evening, employing a familiar phrase President Obama has used on the campaign trail.

"We're so happy to be here, I am so excited," she added. "We've got a lot of work to do, so we're not taking anything for granted, so I'm going to talk to some voters."

Those voters are the members of the International Olympic Committee and today the first lady likened them to the caucus goers who gave her husband his first campaign win in 2008.

"Barack and I have looked at this -- this is like a campaign. Just like Iowa," she said. "The international community may not understand that, but Iowa is like a caucus, and you can't take any vote for granted. Nobody makes the decision until they're sitting there."

Michelle Obama flew into Copenhagen for a three-day trip and joined a team of Chicago officials, including Mayor Richard Daley, pushing for the Olympics.

"This is a very tough campaign. These are very competitive cities," Daley said. "Toyko, Rio, Madrid -- they're fantastic cities."

The delegations of Chicago's rivals are pulling out all the stops to boost their own chances. Brazil's president, Lula da Silva, brought international soccer star Pele to woo the Olympic committee voters. The royal families from Japan and Spain will make their bids in person as well.

President Obama will arrive on Friday to deliver a presentation to the committee just hours before the final vote.

Chicago has brought some glamour too and she is known by just one word -- Oprah.

"It really is a campaign, not even of sorts, it really is," Winfrey, the famed talk-show host, told ABC News. "But I don't think that people are as mean and ugly."

Most of the campaigning in Copenhagen is happening behind the scenes. Michelle Obama is meeting one-on-one with the more-than-100 members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The first lady, President Obama and Vice President Biden all have been working the phones pushing Chicago's bid.