Obama stops at Macomb County auto factory, community college

5/14/2008
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., left, and his wife Michelle Obama pose for photos with working families after a discussion at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pa., Monday, April 21, 2008.
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., left, and his wife Michelle Obama pose for photos with working families after a discussion at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pa., Monday, April 21, 2008.

WARREN, Mich. - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has been campaigning in Macomb County with stops at an auto factory and a community college.

The Illinois senator also plans an evening rally in Grand Rapids.

Obama spent part of the morning touring a Chrysler LLC stamping plant in Sterling Heights.

An invitation-only crowd of about 200 at Macomb County Community College are awaiting his late-morning town hall appearance. Included were lawmakers, union members and students.

The region is rich in so-called Reagan Democrats, who sometimes have abandoned the party when it nominates candidates they view as too socially liberal. But they also have rejected Republicans they see as insufficiently concerned about working-class families living from paycheck to paycheck.