Obama to begin two-day campaign swing in Mitt Romney’s backyard

WASHINGTON -- President Obama today makes his case against Mitt Romney in his GOP rival’s backyard, as he heads to New Hampshire and Boston to start a two-day campaign swing.

The president begins his day in Washington, where he and his administration await a Supreme Court ruling on his healthcare plan that could come as soon as this morning. The justices are also set to release a decision on the controversial Arizona illegal-immigration law, which the Justice Department challenged.

Whether or not the high court rules on the president’s reform law today -- rulings could also come Wednesday and Thursday, the final days of this year’s term -- Obama is to focus on the dueling visions for the economy at stake in the November election against Romney during a campaign event in Durham, N.H., a state where the former governor of Massachusetts also has a home.

According to a campaign spokesman, Obama “will offer Granite State voters the choice to break the stalemate between two economic visions on how to grow to the economy -- one that builds the economy from the middle class out, and the other from the top down.” The speech is expected to include more of a focus on the federal budget deficit, an issue of particular concern to voters in a state where fiscal conservatism is strong and where the unemployment rate is among the lowest in the nation.

Obama is also expected to continue to hammer Romney over his time “as a corporate buyout specialist,” as the campaign puts it, highlighting Friday’s Washington Post report that called Romney a “outsourcing pioneer” during his leadership of Bain Capital.

From New Hampshire, Obama is to travel to Boston for three campaign fundraisers, the largest of which is at the city’s Symphony Hall. Democratic Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren, a star among national progressives who faces Republican incumbent Scott Brown in November, will introduce the president at one event.

On Tuesday, Obama is to continue his trip with an event in Atlanta before returning to Florida for the second time in less than a week for events in Miami. Singer Marc Anthony is to provide entertainment at one stop.

The two-day trip to start the week continues what campaign aides say will be a steady ramping-up of the president’s campaign activity in coming weeks.

Vice President Joe Biden is to be on the campaign trail as well, with a fundraiser in Chicago on Monday and then a two-day swing through Iowa that is set to begin Tuesday.