Stage set for Obama event in Glen Allen

It will be an outdoor setting this afternoon for President Barack Obama‘s visit to Glen Allen. Obama is in the midst of a two day five stop swing through the Commonwealth in support of his re-election campaign.

The president spent time in Virginia Beach, Roanoke and Hampton yesterday. The theme of this swing is to speak directly to middle class voters in Virginia. Obama is expected to tout his tax plan which calls for a sunset of the Bush Tax Cuts for people making more than $250,000 a year, and extending th cuts for everyone else under that mark.

In front of a banner that reads “Forward” (which you and kind of make out in that picture) the president will remind the supportive crowd of the work he has done already on tax relief. Work he estimates at saving middle class Americans billions of dollars.

Republicans in Richmond yesterday, argued that the Obama tax plan amounts to class warfare. Mayor Rudy Giuliani said yesterday that Obama is working to pit the rich against the poor and at the same time punishing job creators.

Lt. Governor Bill Bolling is on board the Mitt Romney campaign bus this morning to offer a counter argument to the Obama visit. The bus has been making laps around the area in front of Walkerton Tavern all morning.

We will provide live coverage of the preisdent’s visit today on air and on line. We will cut in on TV when the president lands at Richmond International Airport and when he arrives here in Glen Allen. The entire event can be seen without interruption on our web site, NBC12.com.

If you have no interest in the presidential visit, it would be a smart idea to avoid this section of Henrico. Road closures start at 10am. The full list can be found below:

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Road Closures

On Saturday, July 14, 2012 President Obama will arrive at Richmond International Airport for an extended Presidential Campaign visit in Henrico County. As a result of his visit, in addition to temporary road closures associated with the Presidential Motorcade, the following road closures will occur:

*Mountain Road between Purcell Road and Woodman Road

HOURS: 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

*Old Washington Highway between Mountain Road and Peace Lane

HOURS: 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Detour signs will be utilized to assist motorists with identifying alternate routes. Residents who live inside the road closure areas will be allowed access to and from their homes by the Police Officers who will be posted at the road closure points.

Motorists attending the NATIONAL SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT at R. F. & P. Park should utilize Staples Mill Road to access Mountain Road in order to travel to R. F. & P. Park.

Motorists attending the AMATEUR SOFTBALL ASSOCIATION TOURNAMENT at the Glen Allen Sports Complex should use Brook Road to Mountain Road to access the sports complex.

More than 100 Henrico County Police Officers will be on duty for the specific purpose of assisting with traffic and security for this event. They will be posted at road closure points to provide direction and assistance to motorists.

The Henrico Police Division will staff a Traffic & Event Help Telephone Line from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday to provide residents with traffic information associated with the event. The number to call for assistance, if needed, is 804-501-4838.

Additional information, including detour routes, will be posted on the Henrico County Police Web Page (www.henricopolice.org).

Rudy does not hold back in his attack of Obama

Mayor Rudy Giuliani is one of the most effective surrogates for Republicans across the country and it is not a surprise. He is not afraid to attack from the stump.

Friday in Henrico, he fired up GOP loyalists with a blistering attack on President Obama. Giuliani went after his background, his record on the economy, his support for the military as well as defending Mitt Romney’s record in the private sector. The very pro-GOP crowd at up every bit of his firey speech and many hung around after the fact clamoring for interviews and pictures with the man made famous after his stewardship of New York City after the attacks of 9/11

Interestingly, Giulani who is often accused of using 9/11 as a cruch to prop up his political career, never onced mentioned the attacks, or his role in the aftermath. This despite touting his accomplishments fighting crime and reforming welfare.

I spoke to the man dubbed “America’s Mayor” after the speech. Our complete interview can be found below.

Obama campaign unveils ad hitting Romney on taxes ahead of Virginia trip

The Obama campaign is set to drop an ad in Virginia that contrasts the newly proposed tax plan by the White House against Mitt Romney‘s proposed plan.  The new ad is said to be a preview of the theme of the upcoming visit by the campaign to Virginia this weekend.

The ad will air in nine battleground states including Virginia.

It will be filling up your TV screen soon.. but here is a sneak peak right now:

OFA has also launched a companion web site to provide a degree of context.

“Mitt Romney wants to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy,” reads the web site.  ”And add his own tax breaks for millionaires on top of it—without saying how he’d pay for it.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus called the ad a typical Obama campaign tactic driven by their class warfare argument.  “Obama is in love with this rich vs. poor game that he loves to play,” Priebus told me. “Barack Obama is a smart guy. Even he knows that his retoric is a sham.”

Priebus said that Obama doesn’t even have the support of senate candidate Tim Kaine on extending the Bush tax cuts to people making $250 thousand and less and then allowing them to sunset on high earners. He said a plan like that would hammer “800 thousand” small business owners.

An extended clip from Priebus can be found below:

Obama to visit Glen Allen on Saturday

Just in from the Obama campaign: Plans are being made for President Barack Obama to hold a small campaign event in Glen Allen on Saturday.

The president will headline what a campaign official calls a “small grass root event” at the Walkerton Tavern Gardens on Mountain Road.  This is the third announced visit by the Obama campaign on a two day swing through the Commonwealth.  The president will also visit Roanoke and Virginia Beach.

The campaign will reveal ticket information and the specific time of the event later today.

UPDATE:

Ticket information for the Henrico event is below:

The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required for entrance. One ticket per person will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Tickets will be available at the following locations beginning Wednesday, July 11^th at 5pm:

 Henrico OFA Office 

2720 Enterprise Parkway
Suite 103
Henrico, VA 23294

Richmond OFA Office

408 E. Main Street
Richmond, VA 23219

Obama campaign confirms stops in Roanoke and Virginia Beach

President Obama’s campaign has confirmed that the president will visit Roanoke and Virginia Beach on Friday.

Here are the details we know at this point:

Roanoke stop:

Friday: President Obama will hold a small, grassroots event at Historic Firehouse #1 at 12 Church Ave. SE in Roanoke.
*Tickets will be required to attend the event. Details on when and where to pick up tickets will be available later today.

Virginia Beach stop:

Friday: President Obama will hold a small, grassroots event at Green Run High School at 1700 Dahlia Drive in Virginia Beach.
*Tickets will be required to attend the event. Details on when and where to pick up tickets will be available later today.

We are still expecting that the campaign will announce a stop in Richmond as well. That visit could happen on Saturday.

We will update you when we learn more

Obama team considering Richmond stop

We don’t know anything official yet.. but there are rumblings among democrats and those connected to the Obama campaign that among the stops being considered in the president’s Virginia swing is another stop in the Richmond metro area.

The AP reported over the weekend that Richmond was being considered and we were able to confirm that it is in the running with a source familiar with the campaign. Campaign officials remain consistent in their contention that the official itinerary has not been set and we should learn more as soon as tomorrow.

Several sources have reported that the Obama campaign is also considering stops in the Virginia Beach and Roanoke areas.

The president has yet to make it to the Roanoke area since being elected. He has made several stops to Virginia Beach. Outside of short jaunts into Northern Virginia, Richmond has been one of his primary destinations. He launched his re-election campaign here back in May and has made five official White House visits in the Richmond media market as president.

As with any campaign event, everything is subject to change, up until the President is standing on the stage.

We’ll keep you posted.

Romney bus vandalized during Henrico stop

A campaign bus used in support of Mitt Romney’s campaign for president was vandalized during a stop at a gun show in Henrico over the weekend. The vandalism was enough to keep the bus off the campaign trail for a day.

Here is my story from NBC12:

HENRICO (WWBT)- There are fears that the 2012 presidential campaign could get ugly, and there are signs that it’s already happening. A bus carrying supporters of republican candidate Mitt Romney was targeted at an event in Richmond this weekend.

The bus was parked outside of a gun show in Henrico registering voters for the fall campaign.

No one was hurt, but it was a clear act of vandalism. The bus is one of three vehicles that travels through swing states in support of the Romney campaign.

This bus never serves to transport the former Massachusetts governor or his wife, but instead parks outside events hoping to encourage voters to support the GOP campaign. In this case it was parked outside the “Showplace” on Mechanicsville Turnpike in Henrico, a sprawling convention hall that was home to a weekend gun show.

Sometime late Saturday night into early Sunday morning the bus was hit, its alternator belt cut, keeping it from going anywhere.

The campaigns dealt with the problem, and were only forced to cancel one event scheduled for Leesburg on Monday morning. They chose not to call police, and a report was never filed.

read and see the rest of the story on NBC12.com

Romney team to bring Giuliani to Henrico and Virginia Beach

The campaign season is full swing, and on the heels of news that President Barack Obama will tour parts of Virginia on Friday and Saturday, republican officials confirmed that former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani will campaign on behalf of Mitt Romney next week as well.

Giuliani will headline a veterans event in Virginia Beach at 2pm on Thursday. He will then travel to the Richmond area for a 9am rally with Lt. Governor Bill Bolling on Friday. The Henrico event will be held at the GOP “Victory Office”.

Giuliani remains a popular figure in the republican party after his stewardship of New York City in the days after the 9-11 attacks. He had a brief run for president in 2008, before backing out to support John McCain. He endorsed Romney early on in the 2012 race.

Despite staying on the political sidelines as a candidate himself, “America’s Mayor” as he is often dubbed, spends quite a bit of time stumping for other republican candidates. He made several stops in the Commonwealth in 2008 on behalf of McCain. He also traveled to Virginia on behalf of Bob McDonnell in the 2009 Governor’s race.

Speaking of the President’s visit..

The AP’s Bob Lewis is hearing from his high-ranking democratic sources that the Obama campaign is mulling stops in Virginia Beach, Roanoke and perhaps even Richmond. The campaign maintains the position that the president’s itinerary remains in the planning stages and official plans won’t be revealed until the beginning of next week.

However, this looks to be like a trip where the Obama campaign will attempt to hit as many different regions as possible, so while the Richmond area may not be a focus, it is quite possible the president will be back for his second campaign visit of 2012.

We will keep you updated.

Despite health care ruling, Obama campaign puts economy first

President Barack Obama is on the road right now, on an election bus swing through Ohio and Pennsylvania. Despite his victory last week in the Supreme Court, his campaign still believes the election will be won and lost on the issue that has been front and center from the beginning.

The economy.

I asked Ben LaBolt, the Obama for America Press Secretary, directly, which is issue is more important, the economy or health care. LaBolt did not hesitate.

“Ultimately it is going to be the economy,” he said. “That is clearly what the American people are telling us.”

The economy, much like health care, is not a slam dunk winning issue for the Obama campaign, but LaBolt pressed strongly, that ultimately voters will come to appreciate the president’s record.

“We will take our record on the economy and put it right up there next to Mitt Romney’s,” LaBolt said.

LaBolt emphasised what kind of situation Obama inherited when he got to the White House, an economy losing 800 thousand jobs a month. After a rough first year, the jobs numbers are slowly coming back, and polls show an even split between Obama and his republican rival Mitt Romney when it comes to who would handle the economy better.

A CNN poll released Tuesday shows that 48% of registered voters prefer the president as the man to help the economy recover, but a nearly even 47% choose Romney. Obama performs slightly better in swing states like Virginia.

The fact that the jobs picture is still unsettled, and that the Obama has clearly not overwhelmingly convinved Americans that his policies are making things better, each and every jobs report becomes an event that requires both the White House and Chicago to hold their collective breaths. In May, the unemployment rate jumped a tick and the rate of new jobs slowed down. In April the unemployment rate fell, but the rate of additonal jobs was down as well. The June numbers, which are released on Friday aren’t expected to be encouraging with several key economic indicators not returning very positive reports.

UPDATE The June jobs report was released by the Labor department and it was sluggish as expected. The country added only 80,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate is stuck at 8.2%.

LaBolt shook off the notion that every jobs report leads to a drag on the campaign. He argued that the president is ready to put a million people to work for the government, if congressional republicans would only let him.

“This would provide funding for states and municipalities to keep teachers in the classrooms and cops on the street,” LaBolt said. “The president believes we need to pass it right now, Mitt Romney opposses it.”

The Romney campaign, meanwhile argued that plans like that just continue to pile of a national debt that will eventually be to big to overcome.

“It’s going to be hard for the President to argue Americans should gamble on a second term while on his bus tour,” said Romney spokesman Curt Cashour. “The bottom line is, Americans can’t afford to double down on four more years of President Obama’s failed policies.”

Both sides setting the stage for another First Friday, and a check of the nation’s jobs condition.

Extended clips from Ben LaBolt can be found below:

McDonnell faces difficult challenge on health care reform

It is a tough spot for Governor Bob McDonnell. He is the governor of a state in the heat of a presidential battle and he wants to be loyal to his party’s candidate. But he also has to continue to govern. He is now leading a state during a time where his opportunity to build a legacy is becoming shorter and shorter. That difficulty became an even bigger challenge when the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act. It is a law McDonnell has fought against, but one that has enorormous implications in the day to day operations of the Commonwealth.

If health care reform continues to move forward (and with the high court’s ruling that seems more and more likely) Virginia must begin to take action to prepare for the bigger parts of its implementation, which begins in earnest in 2014. The best example is the creation of health benefits exchange. It is a power states have to do for themselves, but if they wait, the feds will do it for them.

Republican governors like McDonnell are being careful to not start the implementation, for fear it may look like they have given up the fight on repealing the law. But democrats are now pouncing on the inaction, accusing the GOP of playing politics with people’s health care.

Here is my story from NBC12:

Now that the health care law has been deemed constitutional, states across America need to prepare for its continued implementation. But that’s already leading to battles here in Virginia.

The Affordable Care Act requires each state to create a health benefits exchange, where individuals and businesses could find competitive prices for health insurance.

It is supposed to be in place by 2013 and ready to operate in 2014.

In Virginia, both sides can’t agree on a way to make it happen, and politics could be to blame.

During the rocky 2012 Virginia legislative session, lawmakers, like Richmond Delegate Jennifer McClellan, presented legislation to create health benefits exchanges.

But things got a tad bit off track.

Social issues dominated the docket, pushing a debate on exchanges to the side. Meanwhile the health care law looked to be in constitutional danger, and a presidential election was heating up.

Now the high court has ruled, and McClellan is back, asking for a special session to start the process of the benefits exchange.

“We have lost precious time, and federal resources,” said McClellan. She believes it is time for the governor and Virginia republicans to accept the fact that health care reform is moving forward.

But while the Supreme Court has had its say, the presidential election is still in full swing and the Governor Bob McDonnell’s chosen candidate has promised “obamacare” won’t be around for long.

read the rest of the story on NBC12.com

Full statements from Del. McClellan and the governor’s office can be found after the jump.