Some Dems won’t join Obama in Virginia

Associated Press

EMPORIA, Va.

Don’t look for Democrats in fiercely contested Virginia legislative elections to join President Barack Obama as he brings his campaign-style American Jobs Act bus tour to three cities there.

For that matter, don’t expect Tim Kaine, the former Democratic National Committee chairman and Virginia’s governor two years ago, to join his old ally either.

But one statewide elected official will join Obama: Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, a GOP vice presidential prospect and a sharp, frequent critic of the Obama White House.

Obama targeted North Carolina and Virginia, both swing states he won in 2008 that are vital to his re-election next year, for his second bus excursion aimed at pressuring Congress to enact pieces of his $447 billion jobs bill.

At Tuesday’s event, Obama got ear-splitting ovations from more than 1,500 jammed into the tiny gym at Greensville County High School near Emporia. The city near the North Carolina border is almost 60 percent black, and unemployment is at 11.6 percent.

“We can’t sit by and have other countries add teachers and us do nothing,” Obama said. He was introduced by Jami Clements, a biology teacher at the high school who reminded the crowd that teachers had not received a pay raise in four years.

Obama plans stops today at a military base in Hampton and a suburban Richmond firehouse before flying back to Washington.

Republicans say Democrats — particularly Senate incumbents trying to preserve a narrow majority in the Nov. 8 elections — are so afraid to embrace the unpopular president that Obama changed his Virginia itinerary to avoid stops near targeted Democrats.