President Obama rallies thousands at campaign event in Madison

MADISON -- President Barack Obama started his last full day of campaigning for re-election with a stop in Madison on Monday, November 5th. He spoke to some 18,000 supporters in front of the State Capitol building.

Bruce Springsteen was the warm-up act for the president. He spoke to the crowd about the hard-scrabble themes that have infused his music with emotion and...

"The American dream and American reality.  Our vote tomorrow is the one undeniable way we get to determine the distance in that equation," Springsteen said.

A man with many gold records, Springsteen endorsed President Obama's record as golden.

"I stood with the president four years ago and I'm proud to be standing with him here today because he promised me a ride on Air Force One," Springsteen said.

President Obama argued he deserves a second term and he says his priority is giving a voice to the powerless.

"Our budget reflects our values. It's a reflection of our priorities, and as long as I'm president, I'm not going to kick some poor kids off of Head Start  to give me a tax cut. I'm not going to turn Medicare into a voucher (system) just to pay for a millionaire's tax cut ," President Obama said.

The president lamented the partisan warfare that marked much of his first term, saying Congressional Republicans engineered gridlock to stymie progress.

"Sometimes you've got to fight.  Sometimes you've got to fight on principle. If the price of peace in Washington is cutting deals to cut students off of financial aid, or getting rid of funding for Planned Parenthood, or letting insurance companies get rid of people with preexisting conditions, or getting rid of health care for millions of folks who are elderly, or poor or disabled. I won't pay that price," President Obama said.

The last time President Obama campaigned in Madison (a rally at UW-Madison), he drew a crowd of 30,000.

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