WASHINGTON — A group of Longmont eighth-graders got a surprise visit with President Barack Obama on Monday, underscoring the president’s enthusiasm that the government was operating and, perhaps, Colorado’s importance to his re-election.
During a hastily arranged trip to the White House, the group of about 50 students wriggled and teased one another on bleachers on the back lawn thinking they were just getting their picture taken. When Obama strolled out, they started cheering.
“So everybody here’s from Colorado, huh?” Obama asked the group of cheering kids, some of whom were wearing Obama “Hope” T-shirts from the 2008 campaign. “You brought the good weather and everything.”
During the 20-minute visit, Obama took a couple of kids’ questions and assured one math teacher that he didn’t want to cut education funding.
That a single Colorado group got to meet the president — literally hundreds of spring-break school groups are in Washington this month — is thanks to a heartfelt plea to Obama by the mother of an eighth-grader at Altona Middle School in Longmont.
Shalini Schane of Longmont wrote the president April 6, asking that Republicans and Democrats reach some agreement on the 2011 budget impasse so the government would stay open for her son’s field trip.
The president quoted the letter in his speech late Friday night announcing a budget deal and extolling the virtues of keeping the federal government open so kids can visit the city and understand how it works.
The group’s original itinerary included visits to the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery and the Washington Monument, but not the White House. The last- minute visit to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. was arranged by Sen. Mark Udall’s office.
“Not only did things work out, but we figured we’d give you a little bonus,” Obama said.
Political observers pointed out Monday that electoral politics were likely at play in Obama’s efforts.
While Colorado went comfortably — 54 percent — for Obama in 2008, it would significantly help the president to lock up the Rocky Mountain West again, including Nevada and New Mexico, in 2012.
“If you’re a Democrat like Obama and you’re looking to solidify support among whites … you have to focus on white suburban women,” said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato. “He’s maximized his support among minority voters … The only place he can go is up, among whites.”
University of Denver political scientist Seth Masket said Obama is devoting “symbolic gestures” to the state.
“He is particularly focusing on suburban women, on moms, and education,” Masket said.
When the president announced his re-election campaign last week in a video with a handful of first-name-only voters, a middle-aged “Katherine in Colorado” said, “Politics is how we govern ourselves. That’s what politics is, it’s individuals talking to other individuals and making a difference.”
And later this week, first lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, Vice President Joe Biden’s wife, will visit military families in Colorado.
Hours after meeting the president, Schane and her son were still elated. Obama told Schane she wrote a “wonderful letter … and explained how wonderful the trip was.”
“It just brought chills to me, it brought tears to my eyes,” said Schane, an unaffiliated voter. “He gave me a kiss on the cheek, oh my gosh. We’re still on that high, and I think we will be for a very long time.”
One girl asked the president what he liked best about his job.
Obama said he liked solving problems and passing significant legislation, such as the health care reform law. He added, gesturing to the Rose Garden, “And I have a really nice backyard.”
One of the school chaperones, a math teacher, told Obama that “the kids are so intelligent and they are the future” and asked that he not cut education funding.
Obama said he agreed.
“Our attitude is schools should have more money,” he said.
Before walking back to the West Wing, Obama urged the kids to behave.
“And don’t think I didn’t notice some of the cool T-shirts you were wearing,” he said.
Allison Sherry: 202-662-8907 or asherry@denverpost.com
