Kept calling every week or so when I had time to argue. Finally got them to give in. Didn't give me exactly what I wanted, but was a reasonable compromise. We now depart at 7PM from OMA the night before and overnight in ORD. They also changed our return leg to come into OMA instead of FSD.
Ironically, had another paid reservation that I had to book through work. Booked a separate reservation on aa.com for my father. When I called to have our reservations "linked" to get him exit row/upgrade request they wanted $25 since my reservation wasn't booked on aa.com. I didn't want to change the seat on mine, just his. "Nothing we can do...." Argghhhhh. I'll just do it at the airport next time I'm there.