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President Obama Heading To NYC And Greenwich, Connecticut For Fundraisers

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- President Barack Obama will be in New York City to raise money for his fellow democrats Tuesday afternoon.

The president will headline two big fundraisers for the Democratic Party before heading to Greenwich, Connecticut for an event benefiting Senate Democrats.

With Obama in town, New Yorkers can expect the usual street closures and frozen zones. Click here to check traffic.

The visit begins a heavy week of fundraising ahead of this November's midterm elections, when all House members and a third of the Senate are on the ballot. On Thursday, Obama begins a three-day fundraising swing through California.

All those events will take place in private, sparing the candidates on the ballot from a presidential photo op that could wind up in a Republican campaign ad. Just 4 in 10 Americans approved of Obama's job performance in an Associated Press-GfK poll this summer.

Obama has promised this year to go all out for Democrats, and he's already held dozens of private Democratic fundraisers. But the White House says Obama's public campaign schedule -- initially expected to pick up in late September -- had to be pushed back as the president juggled a dizzying array of crises, ranging from the Islamic State group to Ebola.

Obama still plans to spend a few days a week for the rest of October outside Washington, helping rally support for Democrats in key races, aides said, with his schedule ramping up in the final days before the Nov. 4 elections. He'll also appeal to voters through radio ads, robo-calls and digital advertising aimed at revving up minorities and young voters whose sky-high turnout in 2008 helped fuel Obama's win.

"We've got our work cut out for us. Most of our Democratic voters aren't aware there's even an election on Nov. 4,'' Obama said in a video for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

With voters opposed to Obama in conservative-leaning states like Arkansas and Alaska where Democrats are fighting their toughest Senate races, Obama will focus on just a handful of states where he can potentially help. He will focus more on gubernatorial races, and he is expected to campaign in Florida, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, to name a few. He will spend little time on individual House races.

As Obama carefully weighs which races to take on, other big-name Democrats are hitting the trail with gusto.

Vice President Joe Biden kicked off a four-day, six-city campaign tour Monday with a visit to Los Angeles, where he raised money for Bruce Braley, the Democrat running for Senate in Iowa. On Tuesday, Biden was to appear at rallies in California for candidates for House, mayoral and statewide candidates, before appearing Wednesday in Portland at a rally with Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. On Thursday, Biden will be in Seattle to give a boost to Sen. Maria Cantwell's re-election bid. And next week, he'll head to Florida to rally support for former Gov. Charlie Crist in his fight to reclaim his old office.

First lady Michelle Obama has kept up a heavy campaign schedule, with stops last week in Massachusetts and Maine and visits this week to Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Iowa to help with Senate and gubernatorial races. And Hillary Rodham Clinton has announced plans to campaign for Democratic candidates in at least 10 key states before Election Day.

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(TM and © Copyright 2014 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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