President Obama In Puerto Rico With Eye On 2012 Election
MIAMI -- President Barack Obama is making a rare presidential visit to Puerto Rico, the U.S. island territory, with an eye firmly placed on the Puerto Ricans back on the mainland who could help him deliver at least one key state during his 2012 re-election campaign. About 4.6 million Puerto Ricans live on the mainland, boosting a fast-growing Hispanic population that is becoming increasingly important in American politics.
The visit, the first official trip to the island by a president in 50 years, caps a two-day trip that took Obama to two crucial political battlegrounds – North Carolina and Florida – as he solidified his political outreach while defending his economic record against sweeping attacks from potential Republican foes.
Addressing donors at three Miami fundraising events Monday evening, Obama hit on a recurrent theme: "Big changes don't happen overnight" and "The reason we're here today is because our work is not done."
By venturing into Puerto Rico, Obama is courting a population that is concentrated in the New York region but which also has established a foothold in Florida, where about 841,000 Puerto Ricans live, according to the 2010 census. While there, Obama will make brief remarks upon his arrival, meet the island's Republican governor, Luis Fortuno, and attend a Democratic National Committee fundraiser.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/14/o...
The visit, the first official trip to the island by a president in 50 years, caps a two-day trip that took Obama to two crucial political battlegrounds – North Carolina and Florida – as he solidified his political outreach while defending his economic record against sweeping attacks from potential Republican foes.
Addressing donors at three Miami fundraising events Monday evening, Obama hit on a recurrent theme: "Big changes don't happen overnight" and "The reason we're here today is because our work is not done."
By venturing into Puerto Rico, Obama is courting a population that is concentrated in the New York region but which also has established a foothold in Florida, where about 841,000 Puerto Ricans live, according to the 2010 census. While there, Obama will make brief remarks upon his arrival, meet the island's Republican governor, Luis Fortuno, and attend a Democratic National Committee fundraiser.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/14/o...
DRIVING THE DAY - AFP/Miami: "President Obama heads to Puerto Rico on Tuesday, with votes on his mind, despite the fact that the Caribbean island's 3.8 million US citizens cannot cast ballots in general elections. Obama's trip, the first official visit by a sitting US president since John F. Kennedy's fondly remembered foray in 1961, is seen by some as a bid for the votes of Puerto Ricans in crucial swing-state Florida next year. The president visited the island in 2008, in one of the final acts of his tussle for the Democratic nomination with Hillary Clinton, and promised to return. Even though he lost that primary to the rival he would pick as his secretary of state, Obama will be back on Tuesday to meet the island's governor, discuss the political status of the territory and bond with its people. He will also hold a Democratic Party fundraising event, wrapping up a swing that took in events in swing states Florida and North Carolina on Monday."
--PRESIDENT OBAMA on Rep. Weiner, to NBC's Ann Curry, in an interview taped yesterday in Durham, N.C., for air on "Today" this a.m.: "Well, obviously what he did was highly inappropriate. I think he's embarrassed himself, he's acknowledged that, he's embarrassed his wife and his family. Ultimately there's going to be a decision for him and his constituents. I can tell you that if it was me, I would resign. Because public service is exactly that, it's a service to the public. And when you get to the point where, because of various personal distractions, you can't serve as effectively as you need to at the time when people are worrying about jobs and their mortgages and paying the bills, then you should probably step back."
@danbalz: With the president urging his resignation, Anthony Weiner's 'leave of absence' may be little more than a euphemism.
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