became president. we'll be going live to the event as soon as it begins with the president and first lady there. we've also got a full analysis of the rally today. we put together a pretty incredible panel for you beginning with jessica yellin traveling with the president and at the rally in columbus, ohio. howard wilkinson is a political reporter in cincinnati and we're mixing up the order. lepy mcalester. we're expecting to see the president and first lady in just a few minutes from now. let's begin with our senior white house court jessica yellin traveling with them there. full crowd. it wasn't full but now looks like it is. >> reporter: it looks like it is on tv, fredricka, but the top tier of this auditorium is not full. it's empty, mostly. it's fair to say they expected to fill this up, so it must be a disappointment to the campaign. we should also point out the romney has never drawn a crowd even half this size. so judge by whatever standard you will. i will point out that they have been running a series of videos to warm up the crowd. they have been sending around messages saying check in on four square, tweet out this message. there's a lot of new media, digital media going on. they are waiting on the president to come out and deliver a speech that will be his attempt to frame the economic struggles the nation went through and ongoing progress that can get better in the future, to give their spin on a narrative he can continue to sell moving forward over the next months to combat what he's going to face from mitt romney which will be attacks on his leadership on the economy, fredricka. >> jessica, what is it about being on a college campus in the swing state of ohio that's most appealing to the white house. >> the youth vote is a major factor for the president. as you know, young people are both a source of volunteer enthusiasm, ground troops that go out and knock on doors, and also it's a major decisive vote in what should be a razor thin election. they can make the difference if they go out and vote. also they are the kind of people you can hope to come out on saturday afternoon at this hour and fill up an auditorium. if you want to get a crowd that's big, you go to a college campus. that's part of the reason you would come to this kind of location. a very important bloc for the white house for the president. >> no one can forget that rollout in 2008 of that campaign, springfield, illinois. this clearly a different tone. he's an incumbent. if that was the campaign for hope and change, what was the focus for this 2012 campaign? >> well, they know that that kind of movement enthusiasm is different this time. it's not going to be there. the message is forward, looking forward. arguing the romney campaign would take the nation to old policies like president bush's policies. the idea is to argue that the case -- the president needs more time to continue to make progress. they will argue that the economy is getting better. they have key demographic groups they are targeting. latinos, lesbian, gays, bisex l bisexuals, women, a reliable voting group. more specialty targeted groups, auto bailout workers. the message directly to those groups that the president's policies helped these people and these groups and more of the president's policies will be better in the future and the opposition will make it worse for these groups. that will be the message. he's going to try to drum that home today and over the next few months. >> jessica, i know it's loud and people cheering there. clearly people in the room are supporters of the president. what have people been saying to you in the last 24 hours or so in ohio? what are voters in general saying about the president or their hopes for the future? >> you know, there is a mixed sense, people who just have no interest. they want to change and that's that. people who are undecided want to be persuaded things can get better. i think they are starting, fredricka. >> okay. looks like the first lady, michelle obama is coming out there. we know that it's been made very clear she is going to be a force in this re-election campaign, similar, jessica, to how she was once the campaign kicked off with barack obama back in springfield, illinois, way back when after you started seeing michelle obama in a number of forums on. let's listen in there in ohio, ohio state university, to the first lady of the united states. >> oh, wow. wow. it sounds like you all are already fired up and ready to go. this is amazing. it is truly amazing. you know what, being here with all of you today, let me tell you, i'm feeling pretty fired up and ready to go myself. i really am. but there is a reason why we're here today. we love you, too. it's not just because we support one extraordinary man -- although, i'll admit i'm a little biased, because i think our president is awesome. and it's not just because we want to win an election. we are here -- we're here because of the values we believe in. we're here because of the vision for this country that we all share. we're because we want all our children to have a good education, right? schools that push them and inspire them, prepare them for good jobs. we want our parents and our grandparents to retire with dignity, because we believe that after a lifetime of hard work, they should enjoy their golden years. we want to restore that basic middle class security for our families because we believe that folks shouldn't go bankrupt because they get sick. they shouldn't lose their home because someone loses a job. we believe that responsibility should be rewarded and hard work should pay off. and truly these are basic american values. they are the same values that so many of us were raised with, including myself. you see, my father was a blue-collar city worker at the city water plant. my family lived in a little bitty apartment on the south side of chicago. and neither of my parents had the chance to go to college. but let me tell you what my parents did do, they saved, they sacrificed, they poured everything they had into me and my brother. they wanted us to have the kind of education they could only dream of. while pretty much all of my college tuition came from student loans and grants, my dad still paid a little bitty portion of that tuition himself. let me tell you, every semester, my dad was determined to pay that bill right on time, because he was so proud to be sending his kids to college. [ cheers and applause ] >> the first lady of the united states michelle obama there talking about the basic values, american values that everyone shares. she is helping to jump-start this campaign for the president of the united states who momentarily will also be taking to the stage in columbus, ohio. we'll bring you the president's live comments as well. plus we'll also have reaction from the romney campaign. agents, when it comes to insurance, people feel lost. that's a dead end. don't know which way to turn. this way. turn around. [ woman ] that's why we present people with options to help them find coverage that fits their needs. almost there. whoo! yay! good work. that's a new maze record. really? i have no idea. we don't keep track of that kind of stuff. well, you should. [ male announcer ] we are insurance. ♪ we are farmers ♪ bum, ba-da-bum, bum, bum, bum ♪ talking about the basic american values everyone shares. let's listen in. >> you can get all kinds of advice from all kinds of people. but at the end of the day, when it comes time to make that decision, all you have to guide you are your life's experiences. your values and your vision for this country. that's all you have. in the end, when you're making those impossible choices, it all boils down to who you are and what you stand for. we all know what barack obama is, who he is. we all know what our president stands for, right? he is the son of a single mother who struggled to put herself through school and pay the bills. that's who he is. he's the grandson of a woman who woke up before dawn every day to catch a bus to her job at the bank. even though barack's grandmother worked hard to support the family, she was good at her job, like so many women, she hit that glass ceiling. men no more qualified than she was were promoted up the ladder ahead of her. so believe me barack knows what it means when a family struggles. he knows what it means when someone doesn't have the chance to fulfill their potential. what you need to know, america, those are the experiences that have made him the man and the president he is today. [ cheers and applause ] >> but i have said this before, and i will say it again and again, barack cannot do it alone. and fortunately he never has. we have always moved this country forward together. today more than ever before, barack needs your help. he needs your help. he needs your help. he needs every single one of you, every single one of you to give just a little part of your life each week to this campaign. he needs to register those voters, right? so all of the college students out there, all of you, if you're going to be moving over the summer, remember to register at your new address in the fall. you got that? get that done. barack needs you to join one of our neighborhood teams and start organizing in your community. just let me say, if there have ever been any doubt about the difference that you can make, i just want you to remember that in the end this all could come down to those few thousand people who register to vote. think about it. it could all come down to those last few thousand folks who get out to the polls on november 6th. when you average that out over this entire state, it might mean registering just one more person in your town. it might mean just helping one more person in your community get out and vote on election day. so know this, with every door you knock on, with every call you make, with every conversation you have, i want you to remember that this could be the one that makes the difference. this could be the one. remember that. that is exactly the kind of impact each of you can have. now, i'm not going to kid you, this journey is going to be long, and it is going to be hard. but know that that is how change always happens in this country. if we keep showing up, if we keep fighting the good fight, then eventually we get there. we always do. maybe not in our lifetimes, but in your children's lifetimes. maybe in our grandchildren's lifetimes. in the end, that's what this is all about. that is what i think about when i tuck my girls in at night. i think about the world i want to leave for them and for all of our sons and our daughters. i think about how i want to do for them what my dad did for me. i want to give them a foundation for their dreams. i want to give them opportunities worthy of their promise. i want to give them that sense of limitless possibility, that belief that here in america there is always something better out there if you're willing to work for it. so we just cannot turn back now, right? we have come so far. but we have so much more to do. if we want to keep on moving forward, we need to work our hearts out for the man that i have the pleasure of introducing here today. are you ready? it is my privilege to introduce my husband and our president, president barack obama! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ >> hello ohio! it is good to be back in ohio! you know, right before i came out, somebody happened to give me a buckeye for good luck. i love you back. now, before i begin, i want to say thank you to a few people who are joining us here today, your mayor michael coleman is here. former governor ted strickland is here. senator sherry brown is in the house. an american hero, john glenn, is with us. and i want to thank so many of our neighborhood team leaders for being here today. you guys will be the backbone of this campaign. i want the rest of you to join a team or become a leader yourself, because we are going to win this thing the old-fashioned way, door by door, block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood. in ohio four years ago you and i began a journey together. i didn't run and you didn't work your hearts out just to win an election. we came together to reclaim the basic bargain that built the largest middle class and most prosperous nation on earth. we came together because we believe that in america your success shouldn't be determined by the circumstances of your birth. if you are willing to work hard, you should be able to find a good job. if you're willing to meet your responsibilities, you should be able to own a home, maybe start a business. give your children the chance to do even better. no matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or what your last name is. [ cheers and applause ] >> we believe the free market is one of the greatest forces for human progress in human history, that businesses are the engine of growth, that risk takers and innovators should be rewarded. but we also believe that at its best the free market has never been a license to take whatever you want however you can get it. that alongside our entrepreneurial spirit and rugged individualism, america only prospers when we meet our obligations to one another and future generations. we came together in 2008 because our country had strayed from these basic values. the surplus squandered on tax cuts for people who didn't need them and weren't even asking for them. two wars were being waged on a credit card. wall street speculators reaped huge profits by making bets with other people's money. manufacturers left our shores. a shrinking number of americans did fantastically well, while most people struggled with falling incomes, rising costs, the slowest job growth in half a century. it was a house of cards that collapsed in the most disruptive crisis since the great depression. in the last six months of 2008, even as we were campaigning, nearly 3 million of our neighbors lost their jobs. over 800,000 more were lost in the month i took office alone. it was tough. but i tell you what, ohio, the american people are tougher. [ cheers and applause ] all across this country people like you dug in. some of you retrained. some of you went back to school. small business owners cut back on expenses but did everything they could to keep their employees. yes, there were setbacks. yes, there were disappointments. but we didn't quit. we don't quit. together we're fighting our way back. when someone let detroit go bankrupt, we made a bet on american workers, on the ingenuity of american companies. today our auto industry is back on top of the world. [ cheers and applause ] manufacturers started investing again, adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s. businesses got back to the basics, exports surged. over 4 million jobs were created in the last two years, more than 1 million of those in the last six months alone. >> all right. live event. people of all ages as you can see in the crowd there, pretty important event for barack obama in ohio today, the first official rally of his re-election campaign. we, of course, have much more of this live event. 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[ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. yes, you could. go national. go like a pro. all right. back live to ohio university. the president right now saying this is a make or break moment for the middle class. his words, we've been through too much to turn back now. much more of our live coverage of the president now. >> in 2008 where everyone gets a fair shot and everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same rules, that's the choice in this election, and that's why i'm running for a second term as president of the united states! [ cheers and applause ] >> governor romney is a patriotic person who has raised a wonderful family and he has much to be proud of. he's run a large financial firm and he's run a state. but i think he has drawn the wrong lessons from those experiences. he sincerely believes ceos and wealthy investors like him make money the rest of us will automatically prosper as well. when a woman in iowa shared the story of her financial struggles, he responded with economic theory. he told her our productivity equals our income. well, let me tell you something, the problem with our economy isn't that the american people aren't productive enough. you've been working harder than ever. the challenge we face right now, the challenge we faced for over a decade is that harder work hasn't led to higher incomes. it's that bigger profits haven't led to better jobs. governor romney doesn't seem to get that. he doesn't seem to understand maximizing profits by whatever means necessary, through layoffs or tax avoidance or union busting might not always be good for the average american or for the american economy. why else would he want to spend trls trillions more on tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. why else would he propose cutting his own taxes while raising them on 18 million working families? why else would he want to slash the investments that have always helped the economy grow, but at the same time stop regulating the reckless behavior on wall street that helped the economy crash. somehow he and his friends in congress think that the same bad ideas will lead to a different result. or they are just hoping you won't remember what happened the last time we tried it their way. well, ohio, i'm here to say, we were there, we remember, and we are not going back. we are moving this country forward! [ cheers and applause ] >> but we want businesses to succeed. we went entrepreneurs and investors rewarded when they take risks, when they take jobs and grow our economy. but the true measure of our prosperity is more than just a running tally of every balance sheet and quarterly profit report. i don't care how many ways you try to explain it, corporations aren't people. people are people. [ cheers and applause ] we measure prosperity not just by our total gdp, not by how many billionaires we produce, but how well the typical family is doing, whether they can go as far as their dreams and hard work will take them. we understand that in this country, people succeed when they have a chance to get a decent education and