STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Washington (CNN) -- Just months after President Obama was described by his own advisers as a "bear" on the loose, there are few midterm sightings of the man once dubbed the "campaigner in chief" by his Republican adversaries.
The President has spent much of the 2014 cycle behind closed doors, either cloistered inside the White House cocoon dealing with a seemingly endless series of crises and scandals, or at private fundraisers, urging donors to write checks to top Democratic Party campaign and political action committees.
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That political calendar will evolve somewhat as Election Day draws near, a White House official told CNN. For starters, the President will appear at events with Democratic candidates in the coming weeks, the official said.
Obama will make the argument for policies aimed at middle class voters, just as he did in last week's speech on the economy in Chicago.
"The President has already succeeded in making a pretty aggressive case about why that's important for the country, and I would anticipate that in the context of the upcoming elections you'll hear the President make that case again," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.
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Even though the White House is not quite ready to announce Obama's upcoming campaign stops, there are a few states that can be crossed off the map.
Races in Louisiana, Arkansas, Alaska, where incumbent Democratic senators face uphill battles to win reelection, remain at the top of the Obama no-go list.
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Obama to leave White House cocoon for campaign trail