President Barack Obama made a swing through Miami Beach on Tuesday evening to
pursue two re-election campaign goals: raise money from well-heeled donors and
lure Hispanic voters -- on this night, with a little salsa music.
Both efforts are crucial for Obama, whose campaign has spent the past few
days warning that it might be outspent by Republican rival Mitt Romney and
aggressively courting Hispanic voters who could decide the election in swing
states, including Florida.
Obama appeared at the Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater
after pop star Marc Anthony, who sang with a 16-piece band for the crowd of
about 2,300 before the president made his entrance, without the singer.
Obama spoke for about 35 minutes, framing the election not as a report
card on his first term but as a choice of ideologies on how to heal the
fractured economy.
"We understand how much work we have left, but the debate in this
election is not whether we need to do better," he said. "The debate in this
election...is about how do we do better."
He also gave a shout-out to the NBA champions Miami Heat, saying, "You
guys earned it."
The fundraiser was part of a two-day campaign trip for Obama, who was
expected to raise more than $2.3 million on Tuesday alone in two events in
Atlanta and two in Miami.
Looking to spur would-be donors, the president and his advisors have
noted that Romney and Republican-leaning political action committees known as
super PACs are on pace to rake in more cash than Democrats and Obama. An email
the president's campaign sent supporters on Tuesday said Obama "will be the
first president in modern history to be outspent in his re-election campaign,
if things continue as they have so far."
Obama is particularly trying to shore up support among Hispanics, whose
excitement for the president dwindled after he failed to deliver promised
immigration reform and stepped up his administration's deportations of
immigrants who are in the country illegally. Earlier this month, his
administration announced it will allow hundreds of thousands of young
immigrants brought into the country illegally as children to remain and seek
work.
"They are Americans through and through -- except for their paperwork,"
Obama said at the Fillmore, to a standing ovation. Romney has called for a
long-term immigration solution and has said he wants to provide a path to U.S.
citizenship to people who serve in the military.
In Miami Beach on Tuesday, Obama didn't mention the U.S. Supreme Court's
decision a day earlier to uphold a portion of Arizona's controversial
immigration law, which allows police to ask anyone they stop for papers
showing their immigration status. The court also struck down several of the
law's other provisions.
The high court is expected to rule Thursday on Obama's healthcare law,
which he touted as helping to expand insurance coverage and prevent
discrimination based on pre-existing conditions. Romney said on Tuesday that
if the legislation is overturned, Obama will have "wasted" his time in office.
Obama said he is focused on bringing back jobs that have been moved
overseas -- a jab at Romney, whom the president's campaign has tried to
characterize as an "outsourcer."
"They argue that if we help corporations and wealthy investors maximize
their profits, by whatever means necessary, whether it be layoffs or
outsourcing or union busting or whatever means are available, that that will
automatically translate into jobs and prosperity," the president said Tuesday
night.
Romney's campaign said the president's attacks were an attempt to
distract from his economic record, especially with Hispanics.
"Token gestures and election year pandering can't make up for the fact
that President Obama's presidency has not lived up to the promises he made in
2008," Romney adviser Alberto Martinez said in a statement Tuesday. "Over 2
million Hispanics have been plunged into poverty since President Obama took
office, the unemployment rate for all Floridians remains unacceptably high,
and policies like Obamacare are making life more difficult for job creators
and job seekers."
Obama was preceded on the stage by Marc Anthony. Before his four-song
set, the singer urged audience members to join the campaign.
"This is one of those times where you can be part of something bigger
than yourself," he said.
Hosting the event was Miami radio personality Enrique Santos, who mixed
political slogans with comic chatter in English and Spanish to appeal directly
to Hispanics.
"President Obama is the only candidate with common-sense solutions to
many issues which affect Latinos the most," Santos said, and went on to talk
about health care and immigration.
"Now our abuelos and abuelas don't have to go to the santero or the
botanica any more," he joked. Then, he added, more seriously, "He wants to
make sure we're not discriminated against like we are right now in Arizona."
General admission tickets for the event started at $100, with a limited
number of tickets available for $44. Earlier Tuesday evening, Obama attended a
private fundraiser at the Sunset Islands home of prominent Democratic
fundraisers Abigail and F.J. Pollak, hosting 30 people who paid $40,000 each.
The menu featured, among other things, duck salad over dragon fruit carpaccio
with mango sauce.
F.J. Pollak is the CEO of TracFone Wireless, a prepaid wireless company.
Obama appointed Abigail Pollak, an attorney and native of Peru, to the
Commission to Study the Potential Creation of a National Museum of the
American Latino.
Across the street from the Fillmore, a small but vocal group of about two
dozen protesters gathered to call on Obama to take executive action to protect
workers of federal contractors from discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation and gender identity. There is no federal law that bans such
discrimination.
The protesters, from rights organizations GetEQUAL Florida and Students
Working for Equal Rights, waved signs that said "No Hate" and "End
Discrimination." They sang "we need to know" -- to the tune of Marc Anthony's
I Need to Know -- and chanted "we're here, we're queer, we will not
disappear."
Miami Herald staff writers Jordan Levin and David Smiley contributed to
this report, which was supplemented with information from the Associated
Press.
