Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas
I believe we are a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. I believe we can secure our borders and give opportunities to people who are striving and working hard especially young people who have been raised in this country and see themselves as Americans."
President Barack Obama Tuesday appealing to the mostly Latino crowd in San Antonio during a fundraising swing to deep-red Texas knowing that raising green can be as important as turning a state blue during an election in which the sitting incumbent may be out-spent by his rival for the first time in history.
Trailing Republican challenger Mitt Romney in raising money over the past two months the president spoke to a group of Austin gay activists and held intimate high-dollar events at the homes of former Dell finance chief Tom Meredith in Austin and San Antonio trial lawyer Mikal Watts. Obama appeared at four fundraisers in San Antonio and Austin where his campaign expected to collect as much as $4 million and surpass his previous single-day Texas record. The haul comes at a critical time: Obamas campaign has been alarmed by Romneys recent fundraising surge. In June for example Romney raised $106 million compared with Obamas $71 million.
At his first stop in San Antonio a convention center luncheon of 1200 supporters many of them Latino he began to warn the crowd about a spate of negative television ads before realizing that his audience might not see many of themon the local airwaves.
Youre not considered one of those battleground states" Obama said. Then he declared: But thats going to change" drawing cheers.
That might not happen for a while though.
Upon touching down in Texas Obama was reminded that the state could be hostile territory. He was greeted by news reports that Perry was demanding an apology for comments by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. about the states voter identification law. Holder called the law a poll tax" and equated it to Jim Crow-era requirements.
It was the 7th time Obama has raised money in the Lone Star State the home of his Republican predecessor George W. Bush since he took office and the second time this year.
Obama has raised $15.7 million in Texas the 5th-highest total from any state trailing California ($64 million) New York ($41 million) Illinois ($18 million) and Florida ($17 million). Texas is the only one of those states that Obama did not win in 2008 and the only reliably Republican one.
Romney has raised $24 million from Texas for his campaign and the Republican National Committee racking up $3.5 
million at a recent luncheon appearance in San Antonio.
The president sandwiched the Texas stops between visits to crucial battleground states: Ohio on Monday and Florida on Thursday and Friday.
Among those turning out to see the president were former Housing and Urban Development secretary Henry Cisneros; U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk who traveled with Obama on Air Force One; actress Eva Longoria a major Obama bundler; and former San Antonio Spurs basketball player Bruce Bowen.
