Obama Kicks Off 2012 Campaign in Wisconsin

No surprise here since the rebuttal to his Sputnik speech was delivered by Rep. Paul Ryan. Expect plenty of trips, ostensibly on presidential duties, to all the swing states he'll need to win next year if he has any plans on delivering more of these Land of Make Believe speeches.

The bigger challenge for the campaign might be ensuring that Obama can put the state in his ‘win’ column earlier rather than later, which would allow him to spend more time and money in other states.

“He needs Wisconsin to not be his crucial battleground state in ’12,” Franklin said.

To that end, Franklin said, he expects to see Obama in Wisconsin early and often as he tries to shore up his support.

Obama will be challenged by some key Republicans in the state.

Budget hawk and rising GOP star Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) enjoyed an enormous platform Tuesday night when he delivered the Republican State of the Union response. And Reince Priebus, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee, comes to the national stage after chairing the state party through last year’s victories.

Making matters worse for Democrats, Obama might not have done himself any favors by openly rooting for his Chicago Bears over the state’s beloved Green Bay Packers.

In addition to the chilly welcome the president is likely to get from the state’s Republicans, at least one member of the Packers squad has already laid a layer of frost for the president.

After Obama said he would go to the Super Bowl to see his Bears — and predicted a 20-17 win — the Packers ended the Bears run.

Packers cornerback Charles Woodson had some choice words for a commander-in-chief who won’t make the trip to Dallas to see Green Bay in the Super Bowl.

“The president don’t want to come watch us win the Super Bowl?” Woodson said. “Guess what? We’ll go see him.”

He'll be heavily pushing innovation or something. What would be innovative is actually doing his job.

Administration officials said Wednesday's trip would be the first of many stops Obama is planning over the next month to sway the public to push Congress to adopt his ideas on education, innovation and other issues.

Good luck persuading the GOP Congress to willingly go along with a fresh spending binge.

It's a wonder he even has to campaign since according to a CBS News "poll" most everyone in America was enthralled with his speech last night.