U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign rally at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio May 5, 2012.
KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS
U.S. Election
Jeff Mason
COLUMBUS, Ohio— Reuters
Published
Last updated
President Barack Obama used his first large-scale rally of the 2012
campaign on Saturday to attack Republican Mitt Romney for learning the
“wrong lessons” as a business chief executive, and promised to move the
U.S. economy forward if he wins a second term.
Mr. Obama formally launched his Chicago-based re-election effort last year, but the Democratic president’s own campaigning had been confined to fundraisers while the Republican Party whittled down possible nominees to run against him.
That changed this weekend. Addressing a fired-up crowd in Ohio, Mr. Obama sharpened his focus on the presumptive Republican candidate Mr. Romney and made clear he was ready for a fight.
While calling the former Massachusetts governor and private equity executive “a patriotic American,” Mr. Obama, dressed in a button-down shirt with no tie or jacket, said Mr. Romney had a corporate mindset that would prevent him from helping the middle class from the White House.
“He has run a large financial firm and he has run a state, but I think he has drawn the wrong lessons from those experiences. He sincerely believes that if CEOs and wealthy investors like him make money the rest of us will automatically prosper as well,” Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Romney frequently cites his background as a business leader as a strength that could help him create jobs and boost growth, accusing Mr. Obama of lacking the expertise to run the country and of not doing enough to bring the U.S. economy out of its slump.
In Ohio, a likely battleground state in the Nov. 6 election, Mr. Obama argued his Republican opponent wanted to cut taxes on the very wealthy and slash key investments because he misunderstood the country’s challenges, saying the problem was that “bigger profits haven’t led to better jobs.”
“Governor Romney doesn’t seem to get that. He doesn’t seem to understand that maximizing profits by whatever means necessary - whether it’s your layoffs or outsourcing or tax avoidance or union-busting - might not always be good for the average American or for the American economy,” he said.
‘FORWARD’
The president, who was propelled to victory in 2008 partly by huge rallies across the country, hoped to regain that momentum with Saturday’s events in Columbus, Ohio, and Richmond, Virginia.
More rallies are expected to follow in the coming months, especially in other swing-states like Florida where Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney will be vying for independent or undecided voters.
Republicans accuse Mr. Obama of having infused politics into his taxpayer-funded “official” events over the past year and scoff at the notion that his campaign is just starting.
Many of the president’s recent trips have featured sharp digs at Republicans in Congress over energy, education and other issues, as well as more nuanced efforts to contrast his vision with that of his potential rivals on the 2012 campaign trail.
On Saturday, with his popular wife, Michelle Obama, by his side and Air Force One as a campaign plane, he sharpened his message and said Mr. Romney would introduce policies sending the United States back to financial crisis and recession.
“We were there, we remember, and we are not going back - we are moving this country forward,” Mr. Obama said. “Forward” is the Mr. Obama campaign’s latest slogan, and people in the Ohio crowd held signs with that word above their heads.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Mr. Obama was now running on “hype and blame” because his record as president has been thin, and because he failed to live up to the “hope and change” slogan he campaigned on in 2008.
“Obama talks a lot about moving forward but has he forgotten he’s been president for the past three years?” Mr. Priebus said. “He failed to change Washington as he promised and unlike 2008, he will have to answer for his record.”
OHIO AND VIRGINIA
The Obama campaign has mapped out several scenarios to win the 270 electoral votes needed to capture the presidency, and the choice of states for his first rallies was not coincidental.
Ohio, with its large cache of 18 electoral votes, is a particularly coveted prize. No Republican has made it to the White House in the last century without winning the state. Mr. Obama bested Republican rival John McCain there in 2008.
Virginia, with 13 electoral votes, also went to Mr. Obama in the last election - the first time a Democrat won there since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.
Polls show Mr. Obama is leading Mr. Romney in Ohio and in Virginia. Both states have unemployment rates below the national average, which dipped to 8.1 percent in April.
In Ohio, the Mr. Obama campaign is hoping to capitalize on union anger over an attempt by Ohio’s Republican governor, John Kasich, to limit collective bargaining rights for firefighters, police officers, and other state workers.
And in Virginia, the campaign is trying to seize on Mr. Obama’s advantage with women voters after the governor, Republican Bob McDonnell, promoted legislation that would have required women to have a trans-vaginal sonogram before getting an abortion.
Although Mr. Obama enjoyed an enthusiastic reception in Ohio on Saturday, the arena where he and the first lady spoke was not filled to its 18,300-person capacity, with a large chunk of its upper balcony left empty. A campaign official said 14,000 people attended and noted Mr. Romney’s largest event in Ohio had drawn merely 500 people.
Mr. Obama formally launched his Chicago-based re-election effort last year, but the Democratic president’s own campaigning had been confined to fundraisers while the Republican Party whittled down possible nominees to run against him.
That changed this weekend. Addressing a fired-up crowd in Ohio, Mr. Obama sharpened his focus on the presumptive Republican candidate Mr. Romney and made clear he was ready for a fight.
While calling the former Massachusetts governor and private equity executive “a patriotic American,” Mr. Obama, dressed in a button-down shirt with no tie or jacket, said Mr. Romney had a corporate mindset that would prevent him from helping the middle class from the White House.
“He has run a large financial firm and he has run a state, but I think he has drawn the wrong lessons from those experiences. He sincerely believes that if CEOs and wealthy investors like him make money the rest of us will automatically prosper as well,” Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Romney frequently cites his background as a business leader as a strength that could help him create jobs and boost growth, accusing Mr. Obama of lacking the expertise to run the country and of not doing enough to bring the U.S. economy out of its slump.
In Ohio, a likely battleground state in the Nov. 6 election, Mr. Obama argued his Republican opponent wanted to cut taxes on the very wealthy and slash key investments because he misunderstood the country’s challenges, saying the problem was that “bigger profits haven’t led to better jobs.”
“Governor Romney doesn’t seem to get that. He doesn’t seem to understand that maximizing profits by whatever means necessary - whether it’s your layoffs or outsourcing or tax avoidance or union-busting - might not always be good for the average American or for the American economy,” he said.
‘FORWARD’
The president, who was propelled to victory in 2008 partly by huge rallies across the country, hoped to regain that momentum with Saturday’s events in Columbus, Ohio, and Richmond, Virginia.
More rallies are expected to follow in the coming months, especially in other swing-states like Florida where Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney will be vying for independent or undecided voters.
Republicans accuse Mr. Obama of having infused politics into his taxpayer-funded “official” events over the past year and scoff at the notion that his campaign is just starting.
Many of the president’s recent trips have featured sharp digs at Republicans in Congress over energy, education and other issues, as well as more nuanced efforts to contrast his vision with that of his potential rivals on the 2012 campaign trail.
On Saturday, with his popular wife, Michelle Obama, by his side and Air Force One as a campaign plane, he sharpened his message and said Mr. Romney would introduce policies sending the United States back to financial crisis and recession.
“We were there, we remember, and we are not going back - we are moving this country forward,” Mr. Obama said. “Forward” is the Mr. Obama campaign’s latest slogan, and people in the Ohio crowd held signs with that word above their heads.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Mr. Obama was now running on “hype and blame” because his record as president has been thin, and because he failed to live up to the “hope and change” slogan he campaigned on in 2008.
“Obama talks a lot about moving forward but has he forgotten he’s been president for the past three years?” Mr. Priebus said. “He failed to change Washington as he promised and unlike 2008, he will have to answer for his record.”
OHIO AND VIRGINIA
The Obama campaign has mapped out several scenarios to win the 270 electoral votes needed to capture the presidency, and the choice of states for his first rallies was not coincidental.
Ohio, with its large cache of 18 electoral votes, is a particularly coveted prize. No Republican has made it to the White House in the last century without winning the state. Mr. Obama bested Republican rival John McCain there in 2008.
Virginia, with 13 electoral votes, also went to Mr. Obama in the last election - the first time a Democrat won there since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.
Polls show Mr. Obama is leading Mr. Romney in Ohio and in Virginia. Both states have unemployment rates below the national average, which dipped to 8.1 percent in April.
In Ohio, the Mr. Obama campaign is hoping to capitalize on union anger over an attempt by Ohio’s Republican governor, John Kasich, to limit collective bargaining rights for firefighters, police officers, and other state workers.
And in Virginia, the campaign is trying to seize on Mr. Obama’s advantage with women voters after the governor, Republican Bob McDonnell, promoted legislation that would have required women to have a trans-vaginal sonogram before getting an abortion.
Although Mr. Obama enjoyed an enthusiastic reception in Ohio on Saturday, the arena where he and the first lady spoke was not filled to its 18,300-person capacity, with a large chunk of its upper balcony left empty. A campaign official said 14,000 people attended and noted Mr. Romney’s largest event in Ohio had drawn merely 500 people.
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