Obama to come to YSU to rally supporters

Obama attended an invitation-only fundraiser in Boardman last year.

STAFF/WIRE REPORTS

YOUNGSTOWN — Leading Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will be in Youngstown on Monday.

The Illinois senator will have a “Keeping America’s Promise Rally” at Youngstown State University’s Beeghly Center, the Ohio Obama for America campaign said in a press release Friday night.

Doors open at Beeghly at noon, with Obama speaking at 2 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Space is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Tickets are not required, but RSVPs are encouraged. To RSVP, go to the Web site http://oh.barackobama.com/youngstown. 

For security reasons, no bags are allowed, and those attending should limit personal belongings. No signs or banners are permitted, the release says.

The rally will be Obama’s second visit to the Mahoning Valley. He attended a private fundraising event in June at the Boardman home of businessman Herb Washington, owner of the Youngstown Steelhounds professional hockey team.

Nearly 100 people shelled out between $1,000 and $2,300 to attend the invitation-only event.

On Friday, Obama collected a key labor endorsement and coaxed away one of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s delegates.

He won the endorsement of the 1.9 million-member Service Employees International Union, one day after he collected the support of the United Food and Commercial Workers, a politically active union with 69,000 members in Ohio and an additional 26,000 in Texas. The food workers also have 19,000 members in Wisconsin, which holds a primary Tuesday.

A poll of Wisconsin voters released Friday found Obama with only a slight edge over Clinton in a state he was expected to win.

Recent polls in Ohio and Pennsylvania show Clinton with a more than 15-percentage point advantage.

Sarah Swisher, an SEIU member from Iowa City, switched from Clinton to Obama after her union’s endorsement.