Michelle Obama tells Nevada: ‘My husband can’t do this alone’

By Ashley Powers
Los Angeles Times

LAS VEGAS – When Sen. Harry Reid introduced Michelle Obama on Monday, he referred to the first lady as “the closer.” Reid and Pennsylvania Senate hopeful Joe Sestak certainly hope that’s the case.

Obama revved up hundreds of supporters in Nevada on the eve of the midterm elections and was slated to headline a rally at the University of Pennsylvania later in the day. Democrats Reid and Sestak are locked in too-close-to-call battles that could determine whether their party hangs onto control of the U.S. Senate.

In North Las Vegas, Obama touted Reid as a champion of the working class and an essential partner in bringing about the change Democrats promised in 2008. “Our campaign was never just about putting one man in the White House,” she said at Canyon Springs High School. “It was about building a movement for change.”

The first lady admitted that, in a recession-worn country, the kind of change voters envisioned probably didn’t come quickly enough. But, echoing President Barack Obama’s speeches of late, she asked for voters to be patient and send his allies back to Washington. “My husband can’t do this alone,” she said.

Michelle Obama is the latest in a string of political luminaries to descend on Nevada, where Reid faces Republican Sharron Angle. The Nevada GOP said in a statement the Obamas were wasting “the last of their political goodwill rearranging the seats on Senator Harry Reid’s sinking ship.”