President Barack Obama will focus on the Democratic midterm election campaign at his Tuesday rally in Library Mall, and both his opponents and supporters agree his visit, the fourth to Wisconsin in three months, is evidence the state he won by 14 percentage points in 2008 could slip back into the red this election season.
""The reason we're going to Madison is that I want to send a message to young people across the country about how important this election is,"" Obama said, adding that he hoped to recapture the energy and support he received from young voters in the last election for the upcoming midterms.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine said the president is intent on showing UW-Madison students Tuesday he has kept the promises he made to them in 2008, and candidates like Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., are part of making those promises happen.
""The lead message we have for young voters, which I think is a powerful one, is that you turned out to support this president in record numbers, and guess what, he didn't forget about you,"" Kaine said.
Obama said his administration has made strides by pushing legislation to increase the amount of loans and grants, allow people to stay on their parents' insurance until they are 26 years old and provide citizenship to young people brought over illegally as children through military service or the pursuit of higher education.
Republican Party of Wisconsin spokesperson Andrew Welhouse said Obama has failed to keep his promises, to students or otherwise, and Wisconsin's emergence as a battleground state over a critical governorship and U.S. Senate seat reflects that.
Kaine said the DNC are aware of the risks the current political situation poses, but by being vigilant they can avoid the fate of Democrats in 1994, when Republicans won both houses of Congress two years into the Clinton administration.
""Democrats have been aware of the challenging climate and have been working really hard,"" Kaine said. ""I don't have a single candidate that I've met across this country who is going to lose because they've been taking it for granted. They're all working very, very hard.""
Motivating young voters who supported Obama in 2008 is key to the Democrats' campaign, according to Kaine, but UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin said the results could be disappointing for Democrats.
""In doing that, [Obama is] fighting long odds, because young people generally turn out less than old people, but they also drop out more in the midterm compared to the presidential year,"" Franklin said.
However, Associated Students of Madison diversity chair and emcee for Tuesday's rally Steven Olikara said young voters will not sit on the sidelines for the midterm elections, and that ""as a campus, we're going to prove them wrong.""
Although student involvement could prove critical for the Democrats in these midterm elections, Welhouse said people of all ages statewide are concerned about the current administration, and the results in Wisconsin will be indicative of a national political trend.
""This is really one of the places where the action is,"" Welhouse said. ""[Wisconsin] is going to be one of those states that's really going to serve as a bellwether this time around.""
