Obama makes restricted election push
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Philadelphia (CNN) -- After a campaign season marked mainly by Democrats fleeing his shadow, President Barack Obama embarked upon the final push of what he calls his last campaign Sunday, hoping to mobilize voters in the few pockets of the country where he remains somewhat popular.
Obama headlined afternoon campaign rallies for Democratic gubernatorial candidates in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, capping off a cycle that saw him rally for only one Senate candidate and a handful of governors.
His diminished presence in 2014 amounted mostly to headlining high-dollar fundraisers in wealthy neighborhoods, mostly on the coasts, where he sought to motivate donors amid bleak prospects for his party in Tuesday's midterm elections.
In tight races across the country, Democrats have distanced themselves from his policies, declaring themselves independent from the White House as Republicans worked overtime to lump them into the same unpopular mold.
The President himself has fueled that effort at times, saying during an economic address in October that his "policies are on the ballot" and telling Al Sharpton during a radio interview that vulnerable Democrats are "all folks that vote with me."
Obama, whose presidential campaign drew massive crowds of young people and African-Americans in 2008 and 2012, has been working to propel those voters to the polls. Democrats have little chance of keeping control of the Senate unless traditional Democratic voting blocs turn out in force.
That was Obama's goal Sunday in Philadelphia, where he revved up a majority black crowd at a rally for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf.
"We've got some work to do. Because two days from now, you get to choose your future," he said, reminding the 5,500 attendees that the historic battle for the right to vote must be honored by casting ballots in midterm elections.
Obama reiterated that theme in Connecticut earlier Sunday at a rally for Gov. Dannel Malloy.
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Obama makes restricted election push