[Arab News] President Barack B.O. Obama, fighting to fend off a major political embarrassment, labored in his adopted home state to build a fire of enthusiasm for the Democratic candidate who is running in a close race to take the president's old Senate seat from Illinois.
A loss for Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, now the Illinois state treasurer, would rub salt in what already was expected to be a deep political wound for the president in the Nov. 2 congressional election. Democrats are widely expected to lose their majority in the House of Representatives and, perhaps, the Senate.
"All my friends in the house!" Obama shouted to cheers at the Drake Hotel at the first of two campaign events expected to net more than $750,000 for Giannoulias and other Democratic Senate campaigns.
"I hope you're fired up in these last few weeks," he said. "It's up to you to defy the conventional wisdom once again." |