23 Oct 2010

Obama on campaign trail

8:30 am on 23 October 2010

Barack Obama is in the middle of his longest campaign tour since he became President.

The ABC reports he is travelling through five states on a trip designed to shore up Democratic Party Senators who are facing likely defeat at next month's mid term elections.

Mr Obama flew on Thursday from Seattle to San Francisco to help Senator Barbara Boxer against Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, and Jerry Brown who is vying for governor against former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman.

The president was next due to attend a Friday evening rally in Las Vegas, where Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is slightly trailing Republican Sharron Angle.

After Nevada, Mr Obama will travel to Minnesota on Saturday. The trip began in Oregon.

Nevada has the nation's highest unemployment rate (14.4%) and the highest rate of home foreclosures.

The elections are on 2 November; 37 of the 100 seats in the Senate and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are at stake.

The Democrats are widely forecast to lose their majority in the House of Representatives.