Obama Campaigns In Western US

Less than two weeks before the midterm elections, President Barack Obama is traveling through the American West, rallying support for struggling Democratic Party candidates. The president spent much of Thursday in the Northwestern city of Seattle, Washington.

President Obama will not be on the November 2 ballot, but he is on the campaign trail.

"I need you to knock on doors and make phone calls and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors," said President Obama. "And if you do that, I promise you, not only will we win this election, but we will restore the dream for the next generation."

The president spoke to about 10,000 people at the University of Washington, at a rally for Democratic Senator Patty Murray, who is seeking her fourth six-year term.

Murray is one of many Democratic lawmakers in danger of being voted out by an angry electorate. Recent polls show Murray has a slight lead over her Republican challenger Dino Rossi, but the race has been close for months.

Public opinion polls forecast a likely Republican takeover of the House of Representatives, and a more remote possibility that the Republicans will take control of the Senate.

So President Obama is on the road, hoping to recapture the enthuasiasm among Democrats that propelled him to victory in the 2008 presidential race.

At each stop, he urges Democrats to vote and to persuade more of their fellow Democrats to vote.

He also blasts the Republicans on the economy, blaming them for the current recession, as he did Wednesday in Portland, Oregon.

"And by the way, these are the same folks who say that they are concerned about debt and the deficit, except it turns out that they took a record surplus from a Democratic president and created a record deficit and helped nearly destroy our economy," said Mr. Obama. "You cannot forget."

Mr. Obama's four-day swing will also take him to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Minneapolis, with more campaign trips likely in the final days before the election.