中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
With five weeks left to election day, President Barack Obama is trying to rekindle some of his 2008 campaign magic on college campuses while also devoting more time to a relatively new format of backyard visits that give him time to explain his policies in cozy, unhurried settings.
The two-step strategy, which will play out in four states on Tuesday and Wednesday, confronts Democrats' two biggest needs: to pump enthusiasm into young supporters who may stay at home this fall, and to persuade undecided voters that the Republican alternatives are unacceptable.
Obama was in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Tuesday for the first of three backyard meetings with voters this week. He has recently embraced this form of intimate-but-televised event to defend and explain his record on the economy, health care and other topics.
On Tuesday night, Obama will headline a rally at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he hopes to replicate the raucous, youthful, big-stage events for which he became famous in the 2008 presidential campaign. Democrats will host hundreds of "watch parties" nationwide, and Obama will hold other campus rallies before Nov 2 to warn young voters that the "hope and change" they embraced two years ago is at risk if Republicans gain control of one or both houses of Congress.
It's not clear that either format can close the "enthusiasm gap" that pollsters say separates discouraged liberal voters from energized conservatives who might lift Republicans to huge gains in congressional and gubernatorial races.
Many frustrated Democrats want President Obama to recapture his crowd-swaying charm.
A rally in a big college town like Madison might do the trick. But Obama isn't on the ballot this time, and Democrats are in a defensive crouch, trying to persuade voters that the administration's expanded health care benefits, stimulus spending and other initiatives deserve more credit than they're getting.
Obama wants Democratic loyalists to be less apologetic and more forceful in asserting that he and the Democratic-controlled Congress are trying to move the country forward and Republicans would return to the policies of George W. Bush.
Questions:
1. How many weeks left to the election?
2. Which city in New Mexico was Obama visiting on Tuesday?
3. What year was the presidential campaign?
Answers:
1. Five.
2. Albuquerque.
3. 2008.
（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）
About the broadcaster:
Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.
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