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Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick joined Charlotte mayor Anthony Foxx to stump for President Obama on Friday in Charlotte, part of a two-day tour of battleground states North Carolina and Virginia.
Patrick, who spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte last month, criticized Republican challenger Mitt Romney for a lack of specificity in his proposals.
“What he has is a string of sound bytes and slogans masquerading as a platform,” said Patrick, speaking at the Organizing for America field office on East 9th Street. Patrick said the president’s policies rely on increasing government investments in education, infrastructure and innovation, such as green jobs.
Patrick said Obama would be able to implement these policies in a “much more resolute second term.”
Foxx said Obama’s policies would benefit more Americans than Romney’s. “The president’s agenda, really simply, it’s about growing the middle class,” Foxx said. He also predicted Obama will win North Carolina, a state the president carried by a razor-thin 14,000-vote margin in 2008.
“It will not be a cakewalk,” Foxx said.
With just 25 days left before the election, surrogates for the candidates are plying key states. Patrick was scheduled to go to Raleigh Friday afternoon and then head to Virginia for a quick bus tour. Republican U.S. House Speaker John Boehner was scheduled to visit Republican headquarters in Charlotte Friday afternoon and then head to Raleigh Saturday morning.
Since the first presidential debate, Romney has been gaining in the polls, boosted by what many saw as a poor showing by Obama.
Patrick, who succeeded Romney as governor of Massachusetts, said Democrats shouldn’t worry about polls and pundits in advance of the election.
“I don’t put much stock in polls,” Patrick said. “There’s a poll that matters, and it’s Nov. 6.”
