Obama fills campaign war chest in Chicago

CHICAGO–US President Barack Obama told supporters in his hometown of Chicago that he needed their help to “finish the job” Thursday as he kicked off a massive fundraising campaign for his 2012 reelection bid.

“We’ve still got business to do. We are not finished,” Obama told a crowd of 2,300 donors gathered in a ballroom in the Windy City’s famed Navy Pier after more exclusive events at two upscale restaurants.

“We’ve got to reclaim the American dream for all Americans,” Obama said as he sought to fire up the grassroots support that underpinned his first historic bid for the White House.

“That’s the change we still believe in.”

The events in Chicago were Obama’s first fundraisers since he officially launched his bid for a second term on April 4 and were expected to raise about $2 million.

Analysts predict Obama — who raised a record $750 million ahead of the 2008 election — will build a war chest of $1 billion this time around.

Obama’s appearances before the Democratic faithful came a day after he unveiled a $4 trillion deficit reduction drive and savaged Republican budget plans.

The debate over fiscal policy will prove critical in the upcoming budget battle and the presidential campaign. Obama sought to frame it as a “stark choice” between investing in the future or watching the country fall apart.

“Under their vision, we can’t invest in roads and bridges and broadband and high-speed rail,” Obama told supporters at MK Restaurant.

“We would be a nation of potholes, and our airports would be worse than places that we thought — that we used to call the Third World, but who are now investing in infrastructure.”

Republicans plans to shrink the reach of government is “not a vision that’s impelled by the numbers” but a choice to give $1 trillion in tax breaks to the rich rather than ask those who’ve been “blessed” to “give a little more.”

“If we apply some practical common sense to this, we can solve our fiscal challenges and still have the America that we believe in,” Obama told supporters at N9ne restaurant.

“That’s what this budget debate is going to be about. And that’s what the 2012 campaign is going to be about.”

Barring a dramatic turn, no major adversary from within his party is likely to challenge Obama, who turns 50 in August.

As for who might run against him from the Republican Party’s ranks, uncertainty reigns.

Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney, ex-governor of Massachusetts, have taken the first official steps toward candidacy, while conservative former House speaker Newt Gingrich and even real estate mogul Donald Trump have hinted at challenging the Republican nomination.

In less than a month, the 64-year-old Trump has jumped from 10 to 19 percent support among Republican voters, tying with former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, according to a CNN poll released this week.

Republican officials worry that the crowded field of possible White House hopefuls could end up helping Obama, who is certain to get his party’s nod but could be vulnerable as the US economy sputters its way out of its worst downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.