President Obama will stump for U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud’s gubernatorial campaign at a rally Oct. 30 in Portland, just five days before Election Day.

The campaign had previously announced that Obama would come to Maine for Michaud, but it wasn’t able to nail down the date before Friday. The campaign said the rally will be held at the Portland Expo during the early evening, but the exact time will be set later based on the president’s travel schedule.

Joining Michaud and Obama at the rally with be former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell of Maine, the campaign said.

The event, the campaign said, is intended to kick-start get-out-the-vote efforts, coming in the latter part of the last full week of the campaign.

The Expo has a capacity of about 2,000 and the Michaud campaign said it was taking requests for free tickets at its website, www.michaud2014.com/presidentobama.

Polls have consistently shown a tight race between Democrat Michaud, Republican Gov. Paul LePage and independent Eliot Cutler heading into the final weeks of the campaign. Many of the polls show the difference between Michaud and LePage within the polls’ margin of error, with Cutler trailing, generally with less than 20 percent of the vote.

Advertisement

The candidates are scheduled to take part in two more debates, early next week.

Both the Michaud and LePage campaigns have called on high-profile figures from outside Maine to try to generate enthusiasm and money.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who heads the Republican Governors Association, has been to Maine three times this year to stump for LePage.

Michaud drew former President Bill Clinton to a rally in early September, and the candidate appeared with Vice President Joe Biden at a speech at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery the next day. Michelle Obama took part in a Michaud rally in Orono earlier this month.

Alex Willette, the communications director for LePage’s campaign, said Friday night that the campaign “will be having high-profile visits prior to the election” but that he didn’t have any details to share.

Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at:

emurphy@pressherald.com


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.