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            Obama Rallies Supporters in Last Stop Before Convention

   by Kent Klein

   WHITE HOUSE -- U.S. President Barack Obama says he will try not to let
   his daughters see him cry when his wife speaks Tuesday night [between
   10-11 p.m. EDT] at the Democratic National Convention.  The president
   will watch the speech by Michelle Obama, whom he calls "the star of the
   Obama family."
   At a campaign rally in Virginia on Tuesday, Obama said he often becomes
   emotional when the first lady gives a speech.
   "So I am going to be at home and I am going to be watching it with our
   girls, and I am going to try not to let them see their daddy cry," said
   Obama. "Because when Michelle starts talking, I start getting all
   misty."
   The president spoke at Norfolk State University in Virginia, his final
   campaign stop before he goes to his party's convention in Charlotte,
   North Carolina, where he will speak on Thursday.
   Virginia is one of the largest of the swing states, which analysts
   expect to decide the November presidential election. Obama has made
   dozens of visits to the southern state during the past few months.
   In 2008, Obama was the first Democratic presidential candidate to win
   Virginia since Lyndon Johnson in 1964.  Public opinion surveys show the
   president and Republican nominee Mitt Romney are virtually even there.
   With relatively few voters still undecided, both campaigns are trying
   to persuade their strongest supporters to vote in big numbers.
   In Norfolk, the president told a mostly African American crowd that
   wealthy Republican donors are financing negative television commercials
   designed to discourage Democrats from going to the polls on November 6.
   "And they figure if you do not vote, then big oil will write our energy
   future, and insurance companies will write our health care plans, and
   politicians will dictate what a woman can or cannot do when it comes to
   her own health," said Obama. "They are counting on you to just accept
   their version of things."
   Meanwhile, Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan was
   campaigning in another swing state, Ohio, where he told a crowd near
   Cleveland the president has mishandled the U.S. economy.
   "Let's be very candid.  President Obama inherited a difficult situation
   when he came into office.  Here is the problem - he made things worse,"
   he said.
   Ryan said Mr. Obama's economic record is worse than that of former
   Democratic President Jimmy Carter during the late-1970s.  Carter was
   soundly defeated for reelection by Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980.
   "Remember Ronald Reagan talking about Jimmy Carter?  `Are you better
   off now than you were four years ago?'  [Crowd: "No!"]  Well, you know
   what?  We knew it then and we know it now," said Ryan. "They fired
   Carter and they hired Reagan.  And we are going to do the same thing
   this time."
   Public opinion surveys show President Obama and former Massachusetts
   Governor Romney almost even, with 63 days remaining before the
   election.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/Obama-supporters-convention/1501629.h
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/Obama-supporters-convention/1501629.html