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Obama Helps Rally The Urban Vote For Malloy In Bridgeport

AP Photo/John Minchillo

President Barack Obama came to Connecticut on Sunday to support incumbent Governor Dannel Malloy at a boisterous rally in Bridgeport.

Democrat Malloy is in a close rematch with Republican Tom Foley.

About 1,900 Democratic Party faithful filled the city’s Central High School gym to hear Obama’s closing argument for Malloy.

Credit Ebong Udoma
Democratic Party faithful lined up to get into Central High School gymnasium in Bridgeport, Conn., for Governor Dannel Malloy's Get Out The Vote rally with President Barack Obama, on Sunday Nov. 2, 2014.

Obama told the crowd of Democratic faithful that he can‘t vote in Connecticut but if he could he’d vote for Malloy. He said the governor has turned the state’s economy around and has the kind of commitment to working families that Connecticut needs. Obama joined the crowd in chanting four more years.

“Four more years…now what that means, since it seems that you all agree with me… what that means, you’ve got to grab your friends, you’ve got to grab your classmates you got to grab your co-workers, you got to knock on some doors, you got to make some phone calls. You need to visit “I-will-vote-dot-com.” You got to find your polling place and then you got to take everybody you know to cast their ballot for Dan Malloy.”

Obama was heckled several times by Dreamers -- undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and want immigration reform. He is sympathetic to their cause, but it is the Republicans who are blocking action on immigration reform, the president said.

“Unfortunately, folks get frustrated and so they want to yell at everybody.  And I understand that.  But this is part of why elections are so important, because we do have two different visions of America. Now the vision I have, the vision Dan has, is one that embraces immigrants,” Obama said.

The latest polls have Malloy and Foley in a dead heat. Conservative petitioning candidate Joe Visconti dropped out of the race on Sunday. In a poll from last week Visconti had the support of about 6 percent of voters. He’s thrown his support behind Foley in a last-minute effort to defeat Malloy in Tuesday's election.

As WSHU Public Radio’s award-winning senior political reporter, Ebong Udoma draws on his extensive tenure to delve deep into state politics during a major election year.
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