Michele Obama's Van Crashes Into Motorcycle During Iowa Campaign

Obama was campaigning in Iowa with local community members and activists.

Michelle Obama Photo courtesy: 55secretstreet.typepad.com/

(HAMPTON, Iowa) - The wife of Presidential Hopeful Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, was riding in a campaign van today in Iowa that collided with a motorcycle, sending its rider to the hospital in an ambulance.

Michelle Obama was not injured, nor were the people riding in her Chevrolet Uplander.

The crash disabled the vehicle though, and spelled an end for the day's campaign activities.

The crash happened on Iowa State Road 65. Michelle Obama was traveling in a two-car caravan moving toward an event scheduled at a park in Franklin County.

Witnesses told police that the van which was driven by a campaign aide, was starting to make a left turn when the motorcycle traveling behind the van, which reportedly had been passing cars on the left, smashed into the left rear side of the van.

After striking Obama's vehicle, the bike and rider went down an embankment where the rider lay still.

Obama's campaign team called 911 to report the accident to police.

The motorcyclist, 40-year-old Tim Emerson of Iowa Falls, is a hydraulic mechanic according to media reports.

The rider reportedly came to a landing on fairly soft ground, he did not have a crash helmet on.

Emerson remained conscious after the crash. Paramedics arrived arrived on the scene and transported Emerson to the hospital in a ground ambulance.

"Our only worry is that he's okay," spokesperson for the Obama campaign in Iowa, Tommy Vietor, told reporters.

"Everyone's biggest hope is that the motorcycle rider is going to be OK." The event marked an end for the campaign day. Forty people waited in a park shelter for more than 75 minutes while the Obama staffers gave statements to police.

Michelle Obama said they were, "a little shaken, but fortunately it could have been a lot worse."

She had returned to Iowa for events in Waterloo, Iowa Falls, Hampton, Eagle Grove, Fort Dodge, Rockwell City, Jefferson, and Boone. This week marked Michelle's 10th visit to Iowa since her husband announced his candidacy.