WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle kick off their first official campaign events May 5 with Ohio and Virginia rallies while Mitt Romney, with the primary over, pivots to the November battle for the White House, scrambling to build a national operation.
Obama campaign manager Jim Messina and top strategist David Axelrod said in a Wednesday evening conference call with reporters plans for the battleground state stops at Ohio State University in Columbus and Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond have been in the works for “a while.”
Said Messina, “Welcome to the general election.” Axelrod said Obama will “ramp up” as his schedule allows.
Shortly after the call, the Obama campaign sent out a text about the rallies with an offer: “Sign up the chance to join [Obama] backstage.”
Obama’s Chicago-based campaign has been running for a year, with hundreds on the payroll, part of vast field, digital, research, media and fund-raising operations, working in concert with the White House and the Democratic National Committee.
With primaries behind him — capped by winning five states on Tuesday — Romney’s Boston headquarters is quickly expanding nationally. There is a formal vice presidential search process in place, more hires coming aboard and a formal partnership starting with the Republican National Committee now that Romney is officially the presumptive nominee.
the obama campaign announced first rallies, as i said in the open coming up on may 5th . 2011 them in the important swing states of virginia and ohio . both won by the president in '08. now they are tossups when they show everybody the new nbc battleground map. how important are these two states and what does it mean, the strategy of it all if the obama campaign wants to start there.
it's not surprising those are the two states the obama campaign would pick to kick this off. these are states like you said that obama did win in 2008 . i think ohio will be a very interesting race. half of the electorate is working class white voters. that is an area both mitt romney and president obama have struggled to connect with. that race will be particularly interesting and says quite a bit about the strategy the campaign is looking at moving forward.
as we talk about the strategy, the president's stops on the 5th will be at two colleges as he continues to do what he did before, court the youth vote . this comes as gop super pac. american crossroads just released this ad. take a look at this.
obama ! obama !
all right. the celebrity president but driving home the point it's tough for college kids out there with the accrued debt getting out of college, aren't a lot of jobs. kiki our youth pollster said it is a critical voekt bloc discounted in other elections before. the president needs them for re-election. this is a group that's really not as enthused as it once was.
this is a group trying to figure what their path forward is, where is opportunity. despite what john said, have you a president looking up and saying this is what we have to do and this is what we're doing, an economic plan, a jobs plan. you see things that appeal to the college kids that are the right thing to do. how do you make sure they are not coming out of college with horrific senses of debt, without opportunity. it goes really to the issue of the whole argument about the economy. you know, we talk about the women's vote and youth vote . this is a vote and argument about the economy. that's what people want to know. where are you going to move forward on this. the president has laid out an agenda for jobs, moved forward on that agenda. that's what people are waiting to hear from mitt romney . they have heard about the big corporate story he has but haven't heard about his plan moving forward except for his support for the paul ryan plan.
john, do you think this is an opening for mitt romney to seek out the youth vote ?
the college kids are going to be paying for the obama administration for years. the debt piled on their backs, the fact they can't get a job when they graduate from college. you'd be an idiot if you graduate from college and vote for four more years for obama . they have been a disaster if you're a young person . this is why young people are turning against this administration. they are going to find something else. kiki is right, the romney campaign has to line out something for young folks . but the number one thing is the economy and it's been a disaster for college graduates, recent college graduates.
the thing about republicans what they did before, they attacked the president's celebrity in the last election cycle when he was just the senator. that is senator john mccain comparing john mccain to paris hilton . do you think they can make that stick now?
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