Jill Biden Energizes Obama Supporters

Laura J. Marie has been so frustrated with friends and family who do not support the Obama-Biden ticket that she went online a few days ago to offer to help the president's re-election campaign.

"And I was invited here today," she said as she stood among the 100 or so supporters who came to hear Jill Biden speak Monday at the Pennsylvania State Education Association office in Wescosville. "I only wish I did it sooner."

Marie, who said she voted for Obama in 2008, was clearly among like-minded individuals as she waited for Jill Biden to approach the podium.

Some, like Allentown resident and retired Salisbury High School art teacher Dolly Yanolko, were quite emphatic in their support for the president.

“Any teacher who doesn’t vote for a Democrat can’t be aware of the issues,” said Yanolko, who was sitting next to her daughter, Jill Yanolko, another retired Salisbury art teacher. “They constantly have to be on guard to correct [Mitt] Romney’s lies.”

Jill Biden’s message during her Lehigh Valley campaign stop was simple and direct: help get people registered to vote and do it as quickly as you can. Today is the last day to register to vote in the upcoming November election.

A breast cancer survivor wearing a compression sleeve on her arm, Marie said she would like to say “thank you” to Obama for three things: “number one, for getting Osama; number two, for getting rid of pre-existing conditions,” she said, nodding her head in the direction of her arm, “and number three, for caring so much about veterans; they do not get enough support when they come home.”

Pleased to have finally found a way to help, Marie left Biden’s talk with an armful of clipboards filled with lists of names of voters to call. Heading home at about 6 p.m. Monday, Marie said she’d likely start calling those voters Monday night.

Emmaus Neighborhood Coordinator Joyce Moore summed up the undertones of Jill Biden’s Lehigh Valley campaign, the fourth Pennsylvania location she visited Monday.

“We all want to believe that Pennsylvania is not in play,” Moore said. “If we don’t do everything we can to make sure Obama-Biden is re-elected and they don’t win, we will never forgive ourselves.”

Jill Biden is scheduled to visit additional Pennsylvania locations today.