Oprah's election companion identified

CHICAGO, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- The man a crying Oprah Winfrey was seen leaning on during President-elect Barack Obama's Chicago rally was a campaign worker, the Chicago Tribune said.

"Friends around the country called me and said, 'Who is with you?' " Winfrey said on her show Wednesday. "I go, 'I don't know him.'"

Showing a picture of herself with Sam Perry at the Election Day event she attended with her longtime boyfriend Stedman Graham, Winfrey said: "I don't know who this guy is, but he was very nice to me. At one point I was just sobbing on his shoulder, mascara everywhere."

Calling Tuesday's rally "one of the most electrifying and emotional nights I've ever experienced," Winfrey said, "Thank you, Mr. Man, for letting me cry on your shoulder."

The Tribune said the kindly bystander was Perry, a communications director and fundraiser for Silicon Valley for Obama.

Although Perry didn't immediately return phone calls, a Harpo Inc. spokeswoman told the newspaper Perry is scheduled to appear on Winfrey's show Friday, alongside New York Times columnist Frank Rich and ABC newsman George Stephanopoulos.