Obama closes out campaign swing in Miami Beach

MIAMI BEACH – A party atmosphere greeted President Obama in South Florida on Tuesday night, his final stop on a two-day campaign tour that largely was about adding to his campaign war chest for the more than four-month campaign battle still to come.

The president freshened his remarks for the Latino-heavy market with a reference to his administration’s recent order to halt deportations for young illegal immigrants, as he laid out what was at stake in the campaign against Mitt Romney.

“You can decide whether or not it makes sense to stop denying the opportunity of responsible young people to allow them to stay here and prosper here, get educated here, just because they are the children of undocumented immigrants,” Obama said, prompting a standing ovation at the Jackie Gleason Theater at the Fillmore Miami Beach. “They are Americans through and through.”

Obama also told the crowd that they would decide whether “we’re going to continue to have elections decided by multimillion-dollar donations.”

“This is going to be a close election,” Obama said. “Ultimately the question is for all of you: How much are you willing to fight for this?”

Obama spoke to an enthusiastic crowd of 2,400, members of which paid from $44 to $100 for tickets and enjoyed a performance by Marc Anthony before the president’s remarks. Earlier, Obama spoke to a smaller gathering of fewer than three dozen people at a private residence where attendees gave $40,000 to the president’s reelection and related Democratic campaign accounts.

As he did in Boston on Monday, the president made reference to a local professional sports franchise in his introductions. But this time there would be no needling, as he did of Red Sox fans by welcoming Kevin Youkilis to his hometown Chicago White Sox, but congratulations for the NBA champion Miami Heat.

“You guys earned it!” Obama said.

michael.memoli@latimes.com