2012 Presidential Campaign Blog

Senator Tom Harkin Statement on Vice President Biden’s visit to Waterloo and Dubuque, Iowa

Senator Harkin Welcomes Vice President Biden to Eastern Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee and author of the Rebuild America Act, today issued the following statement on Vice President Biden’s visit to Waterloo and Dubuque.

“Joe Biden understands the challenges facing middle class families throughout the country and there is no one better to speak to the work of the Obama Administration to help these families.  I do not believe that this administration has gotten enough credit for their work to rebuild the economy – particularly the rural economy in states like Iowa.  Joe Biden’s visit today is a chance to illustrate the stark choices in the next election: are we going to rescue and restore the struggling middle class, or are we going to continue policies that further erode the middle class in America?”

Excerpts of Vice President Biden’s Remarks as Prepared for Delivery in Waterloo, Iowa

EXCERPTS: Vice President Biden’s Remarks in Waterloo, Iowa

CHICAGO, IL -- Today, Vice President Biden will deliver remarks in Waterloo, Iowa.

Below are excerpts of his remarks as prepared for delivery --

“Here’s the bottom line:  Bain and their companies made a lot of money facilitating the outsourcing and offshoring of American jobs. 

“Yeah, they made a lot of money, but in the process, they devastated American communities.”
…

“So give Mitt Romney credit:  He is a job creator.  In Singapore.  And China.  And India.”
…

“As governor, his administration signed a $160,000 a month contract that paid people abroad to help poor people in Massachusetts get food stamps.

“And when the Massachusetts legislature passed a bill saying you couldn’t outsource state contracts overseas...he vetoed it.”
…

“His whole career, Mitt Romney has looked at the American worker as part of  the problem…   
 
“The president and I see you -- the American worker --  as part of the solution.  ---

“So to all those skeptics -- and to our Republican opponents especially: 

“Don’t tell me that America can’t make things anymore…

“can’t compete on the world market again…

“can’t lead the world again.”

…

“You don’t have to look any further than Waterloo.   Look at the John Deere local.  Over the last two years, Deere has added 850 jobs – almost all of them good, union, manufacturing jobs -- and is looking at the highest total employment in 15 years.

“You’re not only making them, you’re exporting them.

“And Romney called the President ‘out of touch’ for encouraging young people – you --  to try to get manufacturing jobs.  ‘Out of touch.’

“Out of touch?  

“A perspective president with a Swiss bank account and a retirement account in the Cayman Islands.  Anyone here have a Swiss bank account?   Did you ever think the nominee of a major political party running for President would have a Swiss bank account?

“Talk about out of touch.”

Obama for America Releases Iowa Specific TV Ad: "Revealed - IA"

 Obama for America Releases Iowa Specific TV Ad: "Revealed - IA"

On the day that Vice President Biden is kicking off his Strengthening the Middle Class Tour through Eastern Iowa, Obama for America released a new Iowa-specific TV ad in the state.

Referring to the Washington Post story that revealed that Romney's companies were pioneers in shipping US jobs overseas, the ad asks “does Iowa really want an Outsourcer-In-Chief in the White House?”

In remarks in Waterloo, the Vice President will highlight President Obama’s ongoing efforts to grow Iowa’s rural economy and bolster middle-class security for Iowa families while taking on Mitt Romney’s history of shipping American jobs overseas.

President Obama to Deliver Remarks at Oyster River High School in Durham, New Hampshire on Monday, June 25, 2012

President Obama to Deliver Remarks at Oyster River High School in Durham, New Hampshire

CHICAGO, IL – On Monday, June 25, President Obama will deliver remarks at Oyster River High School in Durham, New Hampshire.

WHAT: Remarks by President Obama

WHEN: Monday, June 25, 2012                           

WHERE:           

Oyster River High School Gymnasium
55 Coe Drive 
Durham, NH 03824

Obama for America Releases New Television Ad: “First Law”

Obama for America Releases New Television Ad: “First Law”

CHICAGO, IL – Obama for America today released the first in a series of television advertisements that highlight President Obama’s commitment to issues important to women and their families.  The new ad – “First Law” – illustrates President Obama’s belief that hard work should pay off for all Americans.  That’s why the first bill he signed into law was The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which helps ensure women can fight for the same pay as men for doing the same work.  President Obama knows that equal pay for women means a stronger middle class for America.

“First Law” will air in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, and Virginia.

President Obama with mom as a young child.
 ANNCR: The son of a single mom.
 
President Obama with daughters.
 Proud father of two daughters.
 
President Obama with woman, portraits of women working.

Super: Women Make 77 Cents on the Dollar
 
Family in the kitchen
 It hurts families.
 
President Obama signing Ledbetter Act

Super: President Obama signs Lilly Ledbetter Act
 
Women working.
 To help ensure that women are paid the same as men for doing the exact same work.
 
Mother and daughter doing homework.
 Means a stronger middle class for America.
 
President Obama with family.

Disclaimer: Approved by Barack Obama. Paid for By Obama For America.
 President Obama VO: I’m Barack Obama and I approve this message.

Vice President Biden to Travel to Iowa, Two-Day Tour Will Include Stops in Waterloo, Dubuque and Clinton

Vice President Biden to Travel to Iowa, Two-day tour will include stops in Waterloo, Dubuque and Clinton

DES MOINES – Next week, June 26-27, Vice President Biden will travel to Eastern Iowa on the Strengthening the Middle Class Tour to highlight President Obama’s ongoing efforts to grow Iowa’s rural economy and bolster middle-class security for Iowa’s workers. The two-day tour will include stops in Waterloo, Dubuque and Clinton, Iowa.

In remarks during the tour, the Vice President will discuss how President Obama is helping create an economy built to last – one focused on reclaiming the security of the rural middle class and restoring the basic values of hard work and fair play that made our country great. Under President Obama, Iowa’s economy is improving and benefiting from record national farm incomes and exports, with nearly 20,000 additional manufacturing jobs created and a growing renewable energy sector.

Vice President Biden will also lay out the clear economic choice in this election--between the President’s vision for moving our country forward, ensuring an economy built to last and economic security for the middle class, and Mitt Romney’s vision, which would take us back to the same failed economic policies that brought on the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Additional details are forthcoming.

June 26, 2012

Remarks by Vice President Joe Biden

9:00 am

UAW Local 838
Waterloo, Iowa

June 27, 2012

Remarks by Vice President Joe Biden

Doors open at 8:00 am

Grand RIver Center
Dubuque, Iowa

Barack Obama 2012 “Dinner With Barack & Michelle” Blog Ads in 300x250, 728x90, and 160x600 Sizes

   

   

Obama for America Releases New Television Ads: “Mosaic” and “Come and Go”

Obama for America Releases New Television Ads: “Mosaic” and “Come and Go”

DES MOINES -- As Mitt Romney continues to evade his record as governor of Massachusetts, Obama for America today released two new television advertisements – “Mosaic” and “Come and Go” – as part of its continuing effort to highlight the reality of his failed economic policies.

When Romney ran for governor, he promised that he wouldn’t raise taxes and that he would use the values he learned in business to create jobs. But today’s ads make clear that he broke those promises and left Massachusetts worse off.

As highlighted in “Mosaic,” Romney raised more than 1,000 taxes and fees totaling more than $1.5 billion.  He raised each resident’s tax burden by $1,200 per person, an increase of 30 percent. Romney increased fees for everything from milk to nursing homes, from school bus rides to poultry inspections. Fees also increased for gun owners and electricians.

And as highlighted in “Come and Go,” Mitt Romney brought the same values he learned in the private sector to the state house, outsourcing call center jobs to India instead of hiring workers from his own state.

Even today, as he runs for president, Mitt Romney still doesn’t have a jobs plan -- instead relying on the same failed ideas that he implemented in Massachusetts. They didn’t work then, and they won’t work now.

“Mosaic” and “Come and Go” are airing in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Colorado, and Nevada.

Barack Obama Organizing for America Minnesota Eagan Field Office Grand Opening Photos. Tuesday, June 19, 2012

President Obama to Deliver Remarks at a Grassroots Event at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Florida on Friday, June 22, 2012

President Obama to Deliver Remarks at a Grassroots Event at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Florida

CHICAGO, IL – On Friday, June 22, President Obama will deliver remarks at a grassroots event at Hillsborough Community College’s Dale Mabry Campus in Tampa, Florida.

WHAT: Grassroots event with President Obama

WHEN:

Friday, June 22, 2012
Estimated Time of Remarks: 4:15 PM EDT

WHERE:   

Hillsborough Community College
Dale Mabry Campus Gymnasium
4001 W. Tampa Bay Blvd.
Tampa, Florida 33614