奥巴马将在首次竞选之旅中为经济辩护

U.S. President Barack Obama will take his re-election campaign to ((the midwestern state of)) Ohio on Wednesday, where he is expected to defend his heavily criticized economic policies as the 2012 presidential election race heats up. Mr. Obama will make his first campaign trip of the year to the state considered crucial to the president's re-election. With the spotlight on the Republican nomination process, the president will speak at a suburban high school on Wednesday. The White House has released few details about his trip, but the president will focus on his message of rebuilding the American economy and creating jobs -- a policy initiative the White House charges has been stalled by Congressional Republicans.
 
The president kicked off his 2012 campaign events on Tuesday in a video teleconference to attendees at the Iowa caucuses. Both Republicans and Democrats held the first nominating contests in the 2012 presidential election in the midwestern state on Tuesday. From Washington, Mr. Obama highlighted major accomplishments of his administration, including passage of reform on Wall Street and health care, ending the war in Iraq, and reversing the ban on openly homosexual people serving in the military.