President spends the night at Cedar Rapids Marriott

A small number of area residents and visitors to local hotels gathered behind the Cedar Rapids Marriott Tuesday night for a chance to see President Obama and his motorcade.

The presidential motorcade -- complete with around a dozen vehicles, including a charter bus bearing the presidential seal -- entered the Marriott parking lot, 1200 Collins Rd. NE, through the rear entrance shortly before 10 p.m. Iowa State Patrol marked cars helped lead the motorcade. Cedar Rapids police cars also patrolled each entrance.

Officials set up a wooden fence around the hotel's property, and large trucks and construction tractors were situated around the perimeter of the hotel. It was unclear how many people staying in the hotel, if any, were displaced as a result of the president's stay.

Obama is in the midst of a three-day Iowa bus tour that began Monday in Council Bluffs. On Wednesday, he will speak in Dubuque and Davenport. On the campaign stops, Obama is addressing the middle class economy. Before coming to Cedar Rapids, he spoke to a crowd of 1,800 at the RiverLoop Amphitheater in Waterloo.