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CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman, Jay Levine and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
CHICAGO (CBS) ― US Olympic Committee members boarded a bus to visit potential sites for several Olympic venues throughout Chicago Wednesday.

As CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports, although the two-day campaign blitz is coming to an end, city officials are very hopeful.

Chicago's Olympic planners are ecstatic with the outcome of the visit, which seems to leave them with a single remaining hurdle: a financial guarantee, which could require Mayor Daley to go back on his promise not to commit any public funds to the Olympic bid.

Committee members left Chicago singing its praises. U.S. Olympics CEO Jim Scherr says he's come to realize that Chicago truly is a city that works.

"It has a can-do mayor, and it's a can do city and we are very impressed with the possibilities this city has for the games and the Olympic movement," Scherr said. "These Olympic Games and this conception for the games in Chicago are not a small plan, they are a bold plan; they offer intriguing possibilities for the movement and this city."

The possibilities were spread out before them Wednesday, as committee members looked down on the truck marshalling yard south of McCormick Place, and visualized the Olympic village drawn up by architects -- the athletes' private beach, now covered with snow, and proposed lakefront outdoor dining site for the athletes.

They also drove along Lake Shore Drive, taking in venue after venue, all just minutes away.

The USOC bus barely stopped at the site of the Olympic stadium in Washington Park to gaze out on the field, filled with all the international flags.

"It is the job of any bid to express with confidence its potential to build those venues to the specifications and needs of the games and the movement. That certainly is the consideration and challenge that Chicago is taking on," Scherr said.

They were especially complimentary about Chicago's leadership.

"Under the leadership of Mayor Daley's strong leadership, this is a city that can get things done," said USOC Vice President Bob Ctvrtlik.

They appeared to have only one reservation: Guarantees that the stadium and Olympic Village would actually be built, and that someone would be there in the unlikely event of an operating shortfall.

"We are presently working on the guarantee both with public and private. We're looking at the concern that the USOC has, and we'll be coming up with a plan very shortly," Mayor Daley said.

That guarantee is the deal breaker. Chicago seems to have convinced the USOC that it has an exciting and workable plan, but given the recent experience of New York's failed promise of a new stadium in its bid for the 2012 games, this time, promises may not be enough.

That may be a problem for the mayor, who had vowed not to use public funds.

Business and civic leaders already have raised more than $30 million to finance Chicago's Olympic effort and would have to pony up more if the city wins the U.S. bid and then is awarded the games.

After the USOC finishes on Wednesday, its members will begin pondering a decision. We will know if it is Los Angeles or Chicago on April 14.

The International Olympic Committee won't select the Olympic host until 2009. Other expected bidders include Madrid, Spain; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Rome; and Tokyo.

Veteran Olympic reporter Ed Hula says with Beijing set for 2008 and London for 2012, it could be Chicago's turn in 2016.

"There'll be a candidate from Rio de Janeiro, there'll be a candidate from the United States, that's where I think the race will be," he said.

The guarantee issue will get big play in the papers but could be a tempest in a tea pot. Chicago has developers lined up to finance the village and stadium, and guaranteeing operating costs isn't very risky, since the last three Olympic Games held in the United States all made big money.

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