Published May 18, 2011
President Obama talks to students during his visit to classrooms at TechBoston Academy with Melinda Gates in Boston last March. (AP)
President Obama is returning to the Bay State tonight to raise money for his 2012 re-election campaign.
After delivering the commencement speech at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., the president will head to Boston for two fundraising events where he could raise over $2.2 million, according the Boston Globe. That would more than double what he raised during a visit in March.
Obama’s first appearance will be at an event sponsored by the Democratic National Committee at the Boston Center for the Arts in the South End, featuring Celtics guard Ray Allen and Hall of Famer Bill Russell.
After the South End fundraiser, Obama will attend a private dinner at the Brookline residence of advertising executive Jack Connors.
The Globe’s Donovan Slack will be following Obama all day but the Boston Herald was denied a spot as the pool reporter, according to the paper.
White House spokesman Matt Lehrich’s cited the editorial written by Mitt Romney that the Herald printed on the front page on the day Obama last visited Boston as one of the reasons why the paper wasn’t chosen for pool duties.
The Herald printed part of Lehrich’s response to the Herald’s request for full access:
“I tend to consider the degree to which papers have demonstrated to covering the White House regularly and fairly in determining local pool reporters… My point about the op-ed was not that you ran it but that it was the full front page, which excluded any coverage of the visit of a sitting US President to Boston.”
Lehrich insisted that the paper wasn’t barred from the press pool, but that local pool duty by the Boston Globe was arranged with the White House Correspondents Association.
According to the president’s schedule, Obama should be delivering remarks at the Cyclorama at 6:15 p.m. and in Brookline at 8:25 p.m. Tremont Street is prepping for the visit, but all of Boston should anticipate a tough evening commute as the presidential motorcade rolls through town.
Follow WBUR’s Fred Thys (@fredthys) who will be tweeting live from the event in the South End.
Are you cancelling any plans to avoid the traffic? Are you heading downtown to try and catch a glimpse of the president? We want to hear from you in the comments.