Obama Steps Into Wisconsin Recall Race With Email, Tweet and Web Ad Supporting Tom Barrett

For weeks, Democrats anxiously waited to see if President Barack Obama would stump for Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett ahead of a nationally watched Wisconsin recall vote on Tuesday.

The president ended up not getting too involved in the gubernatorial race between Barrett and Republican incumbent Scott Walker, who sparked a passionate debate when he stripped most public unions of collective bargaining rights in attempts to curb the state's $3.6 million deficit.

However, Obama -- who first endorsed Barrett when he won the Democratic primary -- still sent words of support urging Wisconsin residents to go out and vote for Scott's Democratic challenger in a tweet, email and web ad.

Tom has spent his career fighting for economic security and fairness for middle-class families. He's been a dedicated congressman and a great mayor, and he would make an outstanding governor for Wisconsin, Obama wrote in the email to Wisconsin residents on Tuesday.

The email includes a link with a database of polling locations.

Obama's campaign YouTube page also released a web ad encouraging Wisconsinites to volunteer for Barrett's campaign, knocking on doors and making phone calls. The ad features a young woman who is campaigning for Barrett who mentions the candidate's name once.

Monday, Obama expressed his support for the mayor on his Twitter account.

It's Election Day in Wisconsin tomorrow, and I'm standing by Tom Barrett. He'd make an outstanding governor, he wrote, signing it with his initials, bo -- an indication the president himself, not a staff member, typed up the words.

Wisconsin's recall election has received national attention because it is widely viewed as a testing ground for what voters think of Republicans' aggressive cost-cutting strategy. Obama views Wisconsin as a swing state, as indicated in the campaign's own electoral map shown in a recent ad.

A June 3 Public Policy Polling Survey indicated a tight race, with Walker barely leading Barrett 50-47 percent.

Former Bill Clinton shared the stage with Barrett on Friday in a press conference, but Obama hasn't set foot in Wisconsin in the weeks leading up to the recall election. Republicans used his missing physical presence to argue the White House didn't think Barrett could win.

Obama adviser David Axelrod insisted to CNN that wasn't the case, and that the campaign has poured upwards of a million dollars of resources and hundreds of lawyers up there for voter protection programs.

Barrett told CNN he thought a visit by the president would have been a distraction.

We understand he's got a lot going on, he said.