WATERLOO (KWWL) -
President Barack Obama will visit seven Iowa cities in three days next week. He will visit Council Bluffs, Boone, Oskaloosa, Marshalltown, Waterloo, Dubuque, and Davenport.
Iowa has six electoral votes and is an important swing state when it comes to the math of the upcoming election and Obama and Iowa have history. It ignited his 2008 primary charge against Hillary Clinton and later landed him a ten point victory over Senator John McCain.
From Iowa City to Newton to Cedar Rapids, during the past couple months President Obama has been working hard to get to know Iowans.
KWWL Political Analyst Chris Larimer says the upcoming three day tour through Iowa is crucial for the president as Mitt Romney has also been making time in the Hawkeye state.
"Because the election continues to be competitive; because the economy is what it is in terms of not improving. I think any state that Obama won in 2008 is theoretically in play, and it seems to mean so much because it's so competitive because it is dominated by independents and because the polls. The few we've had this year so far shows it with the margin of error between Romney and the President," said Larimer.
With a majority of the President's stops being in the eastern part of the state and in urban areas, Larimer says it makes sense.
"He wants to have rallies where there are excited voters, maybe Democrats who are not as enthusiastic about the election as they were in 2008 and try to get them more engaged with the campaign," said Larimer.
President Obama won Iowa in 2008, but the question is can he do it again.
"I think it speaks to how competitive the Obama campaign sees the election and states like Iowa that were won big in 2008 are very much in play they can't just sit on their hands and assume those who voted in 2008 will vote again," said Larimer.
This won't be the last high profile visit before the election. Larimer says you can expect more from both candidates in September and October.
