President Barack Obama finished out his campaign swing through the state with a stop in Colorado Springs this afternoon. He spoke for nearly 30 minutes, and touched on energy, the economy, and education. Mr. Obama called higher education an economic necessity, and called for tax reforms aimed at helping the middle class.
"When we grow from the middle-class up, when we provide ladders of opportunity for those who want to get into the middle class and are willing to work hard to do it, everybody does well. Top, middle, bottom."
Bernell Parr just retired from Fort Carson, and says he came from a lower class background in New Orleans. Parr says he appreciates the President’s message.
"I thought what he said today was right on track, with getting back on the American agenda, what we’ve always been accustomed to, helping the middle class, and forging the middle class, and causing us to be prosperous so that the whole nation can be prosperous."
The President also held a rally in Pueblo this morning, and visited Grand Junction and Denver yesterday. GOP rival Mitt Romney visited the state last week, and currently has surrogates like Ohio Senator Rob Portman and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal traveling the state. Jindal was part of a rally in downtown Colorado Springs that occurred immediately after the President’s speech, while Portman’s event is planned for this evening.
Results from Colorado's new statewide public school tests show little student improvement over previous years. The new Transitional Colorado Assessment Program tests measures year-to-year improvement for students, which educators say is better than the previous test that only provided a snapshot of student performance.
