President Barack Obama's Virginia Beach tour on Friday included a lunchtime stop at Rick's Cafe, located a couple of miles from the Oceana Naval Air Station.
Obama, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner sat down to drink ice water and chat with some military wives, according to the White House pool reporter.
"Prior to this administration, you never heard about military families," said Jennifer Farlin, who sat to the president's left. She cited the Obamas' Joining Forces program. "It makes me feel very supported."
"I love the fact that this administration is focusing more on military families. Prior to this," she said, "we felt lost."
Sometimes employers don't want to hire military families, Farlin said.
"Companies a lot of the time are more than happy to help," said Obama, mentioning the programs that give help to military families, like giving discounts and memberships to them. "But they haven't been asked, and there's not a structure for it."
Farlin said she'd used the Disney discount. She said she is from Detroit, prompting a Bears-Lions joke on the president's part.
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As he came out, Obama was greeted by about 30 people from the strip mall, Oceana East, where Rick's is located. One lady had run down from the 2nd Image Hair Salon, her hair twisted up in bright orange and yellow curlers.
"Anybody gettin' their hair done?" Obama shouted as he walked up.
The presidential motorcade then wound along some residential streets to Green Run High School where Obama addressed an overflow crowd gathered in the "Stallion Cafe." The president walked in and shouted a sharp, "Hey," and the crowd of roughly 300 went wild cheering.
He won in 2008 because of their efforts, he told them, and he needs them now even more.
"This is going to be a close one," Obama said. "We're going to have to work hard ... When we win Virginia, we're going to have won the election."
Meanwhile In the GOP...:
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said Friday that Obama's ads accusing Republican Mitt Romney of outsourcing jobs while a venture capitalist at Bain Capital are dishonest and don't belong in the campaign.
McDonnell, along with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, both potential Romney running mates acting as proxies for the GOP nominee-apparent, said Obama's claims involve actions at the private equity firm after 1999, when Romney had departed to run the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah. They said the ads should be pulled.
"He's been called out by the Washington Post, by FactCheck.org. It's just flat wrong and he ought to pull those ads,'' said McDonnell.
They spoke just before the start of the National Governor's Association meeting in Williamsburg.
They also spoke a day after a Boston Globe report that Romney was still calling the shots at Bain Capital, even as he organized the Salt Lake City Winter Games. McDonnell said in an interview later that he had not read the newspaper's report.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
