Projo Politics Blog

Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy hit the campaign trail over the weekend for presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The Rhode Island Democrat attended a voter registration rally in Providence for Senator Obama of Illinois Saturday morning, according to the congressman’s office.

Kennedy then flew into Charleston, W. Va., for an overnight visit in preparation for tomorrow’s Democratic primary there.

Kennedy, who endorsed Obama in January, addressed campaign volunteers in Charleston, attended a canvasser’s kick off in Buckhannon, and visited an Obama headquarters and call center in Elkins.

According to an Associated Press report, Obama expects Clinton to win tomorrow's primary in West Virginia, which has large numbers of working-class whites - a group that usually backs the former first lady - as well as a strong military tradition.

Obama used his visit to Charleston to combat critics' claims that he is not particularly patriotic or ready to be commander in chief, in part because he never served in the military, no longer wears a lapel flag pin and opposed the Iraq war from the start.

-- John E. Mulligan, Journal Washington bureau, with Associated Press reports

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