President Obama will officially launch his campaign for re-election with rallies on May 5 in Ohio and Virginia -- two key swing states this presidential election.
Obama’s Virginia stop will be at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
His campaign made the announcement Wednesday:
On Saturday, May 5th, the President and First Lady Michelle Obama are holding the first two public rallies of the campaign in Columbus, Ohio, and Richmond, Virginia. He'll speak about how far we've come, and lay out the very real stakes in this election: Are we going to continue to move forward, rebuilding an economy that's meant to last, with a growing middle class and more Americans getting a fair shot? Or are we going to go back to the same failed policies that crashed our economy and left too many folks struggling to catch up? That's the choice.
The Republican National Committee said Obama has already been campaigning for months with tax payer money and issued this statement about his rally in Virginia.
Over half of Virginians disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling his job as President, because of his record of ballooning debt, lost jobs, and rising gas prices. In 2008 the President ran on “hope and change,” but because Obama can’t run on his failed record you can expect the 2012 campaign to resort to the cynical politics of fear and division instead. Virginians are tired of his failed policies and broken promises, it will certainly be an uphill climb for the Obama campaign in Virginia."
The Fredericksburg Times has an editorial cartoon poking fun at Gov. Bob McDonnell for running ads in Virginia touting successes in the state. Many criticized the ads as being McDonnell’s campaign for vice president.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
* D.C.’s Metro board of directors is expected to vote Thursday on a measure that would increase parking, bus and rail fees.
Metro’s finance committee approved fare increases two weeks ago that would raise rail prices by about 5 percent, according to The Washington Post.
The base peak fare for rail riders would increase from $1.95 to $2.10 and the maximum peak fare would jump form $5 to $5.75. Off-peak rail faire would increase from $1.60 to 1.70 and the maximum off-peak rail fare would be $3.50.
Bus fare prices would increase by a dime.
* Despite talk from Washington leaders about raising the building height limits in D.C. to generate more revenue, experts say that would be a bad idea, according to The Washington Examiner.
Experts say that the lack of skyscrapers have fueled the District’s economy and have resulted in lower vacancy rates and more vibrant streets and neighborhoods.
Also, according to the Examiner, the District’s traditional downtown has spread as a result of the Heights Act -- a 1910 congressional act that limits the height of buildings in the District.
* Washington City Paper asks if Mayor Vincent Gray's sustainibility plan has a race problem.
At the D.C. Council's morning briefing with the mayor this morning, after DDOE director Christophe Tulou finished his spiel, Councilmember Vince Orange had something to say. He'd been getting calls from black residents, worrying what this whole Sustainable D.C. would mean for them. "People in the African American community were scared to death of this thing," Orange said. "They thought this was another attempt to move them out of the city."
What people care about now is education and employment, Orange went on—not cooling the planet, so much. "I don't think that everyone can see themselves in this vision," he said. "Overall I think it's the proper direction, but I think the message and how we roll it out has got to be a lot broader."
