President Barack Obama today launched a weekend blitz of last-minute campaigning before Tuesday’s elections, with stops in Philadelphia and Bridgeport, Conn., where he slammed Republicans, implored supporters to get out the vote and, in one instance, confronted hecklers.
A third stop was planned tonight in his hometown of Chicago.
The president, who will hit four states on his weekend campaign blitz, began in Philadelphia, where he addressed a crowd of campaign volunteers at Temple University and warned that unless Democrats surge to the polls on election day “all the progress we’ve made over the last couple of years can be rolled back.”
Before leaving Philadelphia, the president stopped at the Famous Fourth Street Deli and shook hands with customers before sitting at a table and ordering a corned beef reuben with a side of potato pancakes and a sweet tea.
At his next stop, in Bridgeport, Conn., the president’s speech was interrupted at one point by what appeared to be a small group of AIDS activists. “Excuse me, young people,” he said. “You’ve been appearing at every rally. We’ve been funding global AIDS, the other side hasn’t. It would make a lot more sense to go to the other side.”
The crowd eventually began chanting “Obama, Obama” and he continued his speech as the hecklers were led out by police.
In his remarks, the president declared “our job is not yet done” and blamed the Republicans for the economic policies “that got us into this mess in the first place.”
His appearance was aimed to boost the Senate candidacy of Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who is running against Republican Linda McMahon, who with her husband, Vince, founded the World Wrestling Federation.
Despite misstatements about his military service and heavy spending by McMahon, Blumenthal has maintained a lead in the polls.
All four of Obama’s weekend stops — in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Illinois and Ohio — are in states he carried in 2008 and where he hopes to reinvigorate the Democratic turnout.
Tomorrow he will speak at Cleveland State University with Vice President Joe Biden before returning to the White House.