President Obama is hitting the campaign trail.

Naresh --

Big news: In 10 days, President Obama is hitting the campaign trail.

On Saturday, May 5th, the President and First Lady Michelle Obama are holding the first two public rallies of the campaign in Columbus, Ohio, and Richmond, Virginia. He'll speak about how far we've come, and lay out the very real stakes in this election: Are we going to continue to move forward, rebuilding an economy that's meant to last, with a growing middle class and more Americans getting a fair shot? Or are we going to go back to the same failed policies that crashed our economy and left too many folks struggling to catch up? That's the choice.

These kinds of events are one of the hallmarks of this organization. Millions of people first came to know and support candidate Barack Obama in 2007 and 2008 when they met him at rallies and town halls in their communities. We're now entering the general election of his final campaign -- this day should be something pretty special.

The President would like two supporters from across the country and their guests to meet him backstage before he goes on at the first rally. Supporters like you are the core of this campaign -- so we're opening this up to anyone willing to sign up.

Right now, by signing up to receive important campaign updates on your phone, you will be automatically entered to join the President backstage.

What we're looking at right now is essentially the start of a general election. We've all but got our opponent. This is what we've been building for since we launched this campaign last April -- and we're ready to go.

I can tell you the President can't wait to get out there.

You really can't lose on this one: As part of our mobile community, you'll be sure to hear about events near you, when the President will be in your area, and other campaign news.

And signing up right now just might land you the chance to meet President Obama backstage before he starts firing folks up.

Want to be there with him? Sign up for text updates -- and be automatically entered for you and a guest to meet him backstage:

http://my.barackobama.com/Backstage-with-Barack

Thanks,

Messina

Jim Messina
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

P.S. -- Even if you can't be there, you'll still be able see the first rally for yourself. We'll be streaming the event live on our site. Stay tuned for more information about that.