Biden to speak in Davenport next week

DAVENPORT - Vice President Joe Biden will make a trip to Eastern Iowa next week as the Obama campaign's first re-election stop in the state, which will be a key battleground in the 2012 election.

Final details haven't been determined yet, but Biden will be in Davenport on Wednesday for an invitation-only event, a campaign official said.

This will be the third in a series of campaign speeches that Biden kicked off last week in Ohio. There, he touted the administration's auto industry bailout and criticized Republican presidential candidates for opposing it.

On Friday the vice president will be in Florida, where the official said he'll talk about “our sacred compact with America's seniors.”

And during his Davenport visit, Biden is expected to talk about manufacturing.

“President Obama is committed to renewing America's manufacturing industry,” the official said, noting that 11,800 manufacturing jobs have been created in Iowa since January 2011.

Manufacturing has been a favorite topic of the administration when the president or other officials are here. Obama visited a factory in Cedar Rapids in January and made a stop at Alcoa Davenport Works in June.

Eastern Iowa will play an important part in the 2012 campaign because it's home to much of the state's population, particularly its Democratic voters. Also, its economy is historically based in manufacturing.

Biden is a top emissary for the campaign in battleground states, particularly in the Midwest and Rust Belt. He's expected to appeal to white middle-class voters and is well known in Iowa, where he spent time campaigning before the 2008 caucuses.