By Nancy Benac, AP
WASHINGTON — It’s no coincidence that Michelle Obama and Ann Romney are showing up a lot more as the tight presidential race barrels into the final few months.
The rival campaigns are rolling out their top assets in a big way. The first lady is the public face of a new grassroots mobilizing effort for Team Obama. And Mrs. Romney’s recent interviews have put her on display cutting through the campaign din — including her blunt statement Thursday that her husband has provided everything that “people need to know” and won’t be releasing more tax returns.
Although Mrs. Romney is still largely unknown to a large swath of the public, both women are well regarded by voters in their own parties, and the campaigns are going all-out to use their appeal in ways that go well beyond the traditional presidential cookie bakeoff.
“They really do appear to be in it to win it, both of them, and sincerely in it to win it,” says Anita McBride, who served as Laura Bush’s chief of staff in the White House.
Mrs. Obama on Thursday made her debut as the leader the Obama campaign’s new “It Takes One” program, which asks supporters to do one thing to promote the campaign — and to engage someone else to do likewise.
“That one conversation you have, that one new volunteer you recruit, that could be the difference between waking up on Nov. 7 and feeling the promise of four more years or asking yourself, ‘Could I have done more?’” Mrs. Obama says in a three-minute video to supporters that is filled with urgency.
Campaign officials said Mrs. Obama will participate in many “It Takes One” events as she travels the country, recruiting neighborhood team leaders, stopping by voter registration events and speaking to groups of women.
Spouse appeal Wives help Obama, Romney campaigns. By azstarnet.com
Mrs. Romney, for her part, has increasingly been out front, fielding questions on issues at the core of her husband’s campaign — his choice for vice president, his refusal to release more tax returns, and more. She’s also a potent fundraiser for Team Romney.
In an interview that aired Thursday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Mrs. Romney summed up her expectations for President Barack Obama’s future with a curt sports analogy: “At the end of the day, they’re going to fire the coach because things are not going well,” she said.
Asked about the mounting pressure on her husband to release more of his past tax returns, she dismissed that as an effort to get “more material for more attack.”
Source: Deseret News
