Nov 2, 2014 3 min read

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – President Barack Obama tried Sunday adding a jolt of life into what has turned out to be a somewhat low-voltage gubernatorial election in Pennsylvania, telling supporters to vote for Democrat Tom Wolf and casting the election as a choice between trickle-down economics and policies that strengthen the middle class.

Obama’s appearance, part of an eight-state campaign tour over the past couple weeks, comes two days before the election and was designed to stoke turnout in Pennsylvania’s liberal bastion, Philadelphia. But Republicans seemed equally as pleased to see Obama, aggressively attacking him in a fresh campaign ad as Wolf’s running mate.

Wolf, a first-time candidate who ran his family business for nearly three decades, is trying to knock off Republican Gov. Tom Corbett in Tuesday’s election. Corbett, a conservative former state and federal prosecutor, is seeking a second term after stumbling through his first four years. In particular, Corbett has struggled to explain budget-balancing cuts in aid to public schools in 2011 at the same time he cut business taxes.

Philadelphia is a well-traveled city for Obama, and Corbett is particularly unpopular there. In a 20-minute speech, the president touted Wolf’s experience as a businessman, and his support for raising the minimum wage, ensuring women get equal pay, expanding access to college and strengthening public education.

“The biggest corporations, they don’t need another champion. The wealthiest Americans don’t need another champion, they’re doing just fine,” Obama told a crowd of several thousand at Temple University’s Liacouras Center. “But you know what’s in need of a champion? Somebody who understands that opportunity for all is what America’s all about, opportunity for all is what Pennsylvania’s all about. And that’s what Tom believes. But listen: Y’all have to vote. That’s what this comes down to. You’ve got to vote!”

Wolf has led steadily in polls, although Corbett’s campaign appears to be making up ground by warning voters that Wolf is secretly planning a massive middle-class tax increase. Wolf has said he intends no such thing and plans to restructure the state income tax rate to shift a bigger burden to higher earners.

Meanwhile, Corbett’s campaign has added a second prong to its attack, attacking Obama in the days ahead of his visit in a TV ad in every market except Philadelphia that says “voting for Tom Wolf would be like voting to make Obama Pennsylvania’s governor.”

The ad tries to capitalize on Obama’s sagging popularity – two recent independent polls show that just one in three voters surveyed say he’s doing a good job — and it quotes first lady Michelle Obama during her Oct. 15 visit to a Philadelphia rally for Wolf: “If we truly want to finish what we started, then we need to elect Tom Wolf as governor of Pennsylvania.”

Later, Corbett planned to join potential presidential candidate New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at a campaign rally in a Philadelphia suburbs.