>> we will be back tomorrow morning on the "washington journal." president obama was in chicago this morning campaigning for democratic candidates there. following that he was at a rally in cleveland. >> i feel great. if we have this kind of turnout, we will win.

obviously the other side is enthusiastic. i have a great guy in ohio i have to help out. we are going to come around. we are going to come around and meet you. we will get the whole thing.

how are you? good to see you again. >> how are you? >> it's great to be home. it's good to see you again. i like what you have done to the place. we have to meet with all these voters. >> some kind of embarrassed of forgot my wallet. >> that will cover it.

these guys have been working incredibly hard. when the folks in illinois sees someone like alexi or pat working on behalf of working families, that is what they want, so much on their side, championing their issues, making sure they will be able to send their kids to college. these guys have been working tirelessly to make that happen. it is good to see you again. let's get a picture with the staff.

thank you guys. everybody remember to vote. [laughter] [crowd chatter] ♪ >> hello, cleveland.

hello, cleveland. you are beautiful. you are ohio. this wonderful state we love, this state that is a microcosm of america. if you were to shrink america, it would end up with ohio. [cheering] and in ohio, what do we want? let me make a suggestion. we want health care for our people. we want jobs for our working

families. we want a quality education for our children. we want affordable college for our young people. in ohio, we are grateful to the president and vice-president and center sherrod brown and our democratic friends in the house of representatives who saved the american auto industry, saving thousands of jobs in ohio. we are grateful for resources that came to us so that we could hold down the cost of college tuition. we are grateful for resources we got so we could educate our

kids in quality schools. this is what has happened in ohio during this difficult recession. we have invested in education and we have competed and won $400 million in race to the top funds. we have competed for and won four hundred million dollars to establish passenger rail service linking cleveland, columbus, dayton, and cincinnati. we have passed an energy bill with the renewables standards that is resulting in investments being made and jobs being created in ohio in the area of advanced energy. ohio is on the move. we have the sixth fastest-

growing economy in america. our unemployment has gone down every month for six consecutive months. we must not, we cannot, we will not turn back. and so a few more hours, and on november 2, when all the votes have been counted, ohio will remain a blue state. let me tell you a secret. let me tell you a secret.

jon casey and mary taylor -- hear me out. they won the election in august, but ted strickland and yvette mcgreevey -- yvette agreemcgee n will when in november. are you with us? will you work? will you believe? will you vote? will you secure ohio and ohio's future? thank you for that. now, it is my great privilege -- hear me out. i want you to hear these words that i am going to say.

we have with us today the leaders of our nation. [cheers and applause] you'll hear from the vice president and you will hear from the president'. a few hours before this critical election, the vice president's and the president of the united states have come to cleveland, to ohio, and we are grateful. the vice president has traveled the station and he has been to ohio many times -- has traveled this nation. he is working his heart out with the president to rebuild this nation, to get this economy back on track, to create jobs for our

people, to make sure that every american has access to health care. here in ohio, we remember our friends, and so, my friends, it is my pleasure to present to you the vice-president of the united states of america, vice- president joe biden. ♪ ♪ ♪

>> hello, cleveland. hello, folks. how are you doing? it is great to see you all. i want to look like you when i grow up. good to see. great to be with you. it is really good to be back in ohio with the best governor in the united states of america, ted strickland. ted and i were raised the same way, a simple proposition, real easy. you stick with them that brung you to the dance.

ted and lee, we are here for both of you. back where i come from, cleveland is the kind of place, on a much smaller scale where i came from. it is the kind of people who are the backbone of this country, the kind of people who are just great forward, work hard, play by the rules, and expect the other guy to play by the rules. it is a stake that because of governor strickland's leadership in columbus, a state that is on the march again. a state that has reestablished itself as a global hunt for research, innovation, and manufacturing, like it used to be before these republicans took hold. all we need now is to keep this momentum going.

there is only one way to do that. that is all of you that are here. you are the same folks that make sure barack and i get to be on the stage today. so we are asking you to do the same thing you did for us, go out there to your neighbors, send e-mail, make phone calls, knock on doors. make sure you are there to give folks a right to the polls on tuesday. i will tell you one thing. if jon casey wins this, i promise you the governor's mansion is going to be a very different place. this momentum that ted has got going is going to come to a screeching halt, and that is no exaggeration. they want to do what they have always done. they are not bad guys, they just have a whole different view of how real folks live. these guys want to continue to give tax breaks to companies whose in their jobs to china.

they don't -- this is real. this is not just political data. they don't think we should be given tax credits for renewable energy so we can make windmills and solar panels right here in ohio and hire thousands and andoans. of ohi they don't think we should provide the tax breaks to middle-class and -- families to send their kids to these great universities. they don't even want to make the middle-class tax cut permanent unless we provide $700 billion tax cuts to the wealthy, increasing the debt burden. these guys have a different view.

a lot of folks here have been knocked down pretty hard by the economic policies supported by the republicans. these folks in here, they are tough. these folks don't stay down. they believe -- i believe you all believe like i do and like i was raised. my dad used to say, when you are not down, there is only one thing to do, get up. get up, and vote. when you get up, make sure the same thing does not knock you down again bit and folks, we are getting up. we are going to make sure the bankrupt policies of the republican party don't knock us down again. we are getting up and staying up, thanks to the leadership of

president obama and because of this great governor, ted strickland. we are starting to get out of this got awful mess the republican party left us with. we are creating jobs. we are making college affordable to the middle class again. we are revving up america's research engine, finding new energy technologies, cures for diseases. we are working to uphold that distinctly american promise that the next generation will have a better than we had it, that we will leave our children and our grandchildren better off than what we inherited. mr. president, it is because of you. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome my partner, the president of the united states of america, barack obama. [cheers and applause] ♪

>> hello, cleveland. hello, cleveland. thank you. are you fired up? it is good to be back in cleveland, good to be back in ohio.

it is great to be with the crowd that looks like it is fired up and ready to go. a few people i want to just thank, because they are doing outstanding work each and every day. the cleveland mayor, frank jackson, thank you so much. my dear friend, the attorney general, state treasurer kevin boyce, some of the finest members of congress, senator sherrod brown is in the house. congressman dennis kucinich,

congresswoman eddie sutton -- betty sutton. what my favorite members of congress who could not be here because you just had a baby yester day -- his wife had a baby yester day. he is an outstanding young man and we expect to send him back to congress. his new baby girl is named emma, by the way. i want to thank the president here at cleveland state university. i want to thank congresswoman betty sudden, she is in the

house, i believe. is she here? and most wall, -- most of all, folks who are going to be leading ohio for many years to come. lt. governor lee fisher who is going to be going to washington, and one of the finest governors in this country, ted strickland and first lady frances strickland. we are here for tech and lee and all the members of the congressional adelegation.

for some reason marshall was not on the list. we love marshall, it's just that she was not here, that's all. i love marsha. that is my girl. we were in acknowledging those folks who are in the crowd, but we love marsha, and she is going to do a great job. joe biden and i have been traveling all across the country, and there are a lot of places where we are doing a lot of great work, but there are very few places where we are doing as much good work as we are doing right here in ohio. cleveland, in just two days, you have the chance --

>> [chanting "yes, we can"] >> i cannot hear you. did you say "yes, we can"? days you have the chance to set the direction for many years to come. you can defied the conventional wisdom just as you did in 2008. the kind of conventional, as

dale wisdom that says it cannot overcome all the special interest and special interest money, that says you cannot tackle the biggest challenges in this country. in two days, you have the chance to once again say "yes, we can." cleveland, there is no doubt that this is a difficult election. that is because we have gone through an incredibly difficult time as a nation. nobody knows that more than the folks in cleveland and the folks in ohio. for most of the last decade, middle-class families have been struggling. this did not just art year-ago or two years ago -- this did not just dart a year ago or two years ago.

the average middle-class family saw their income go down by 5% when the other side was in charge. between 2001 and 2009, job growth was slower than at any time since world war ii. meanwhile, the cost of everything from health care to sending a child to college kept on going up and up and up. to many families could not send their kids to college. too many families could not visit a doctor when somebody got sick. to many americans were working two or three jobs and still could not make ends meet. a whole lot of folks could not find a job at all. these problems were then compound of the worst economic crisis, the worst financial crisis since the great depression. think about it.

we had a recession that was so bad we lost 4 million jobs before joe and i were even sworn into office. then we had another 750,000 jobs lost the month we took office. 600,000 a month after that. we lost almost 8 million jobs before our economic policies could even be put into place. when joe and i got to washington, our hope was that both parties would put politics aside to meet this once in a generation challenge. because although we are proud to be democrats, cleveland, we are product to be americans. -- broadeprouder to be american.

the republican leaders in washington had a different calculation. their basic theory was, the economy is so bad, we made such a mess of things, that rather than cooperate, we will be better off just say no to everything. we will be better off not even trying to fix the economy, and people will get angry and frustrated and maybe two years from now, they will have forgotten that we were the ones who cause the mess in the first place. in other words, their basic political strategy has been to count on you having amnesia. they are betting all of you forgot how we got here. well, cleveland, it's up to you to let them know we have not forgotten. thatup to you to remember

this election is a choice between the policies that got us into this mess and the policies that are leading us out of this mess. if they win this election, the chair of the republican campaign committee promised to pursue the exact same agenda as they did before i came into office. now think about that. we know what that agenda is. it does not have -- it does have the virtue of simplicity. you basically cut taxes for millionaires, and you cut middle-class families lose to fend for themselves. you don't have a job? tough luck, you are on your own. you don't have health care? too bad, yo o