GUY RAZ, HOST:
It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz.
President Obama is spending this Labor Day weekend on the campaign trail. He's looking to rally supporters in advance of the Democratic National Convention. That kicks off on Tuesday. Today, the president was in a sunny courtyard at the University of Colorado, and that's where we find our Scott Horsley. Scott, do I have you here?
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: Good to be with you, Guy.
RAZ: This is the second time the president has visited Colorado this week. Clearly, that is an important state for him.
HORSLEY: That's right. He's spent a lot of time here in Colorado. He's also spending a lot of time in Iowa. You know, he campaigned really throughout most of the Republican convention this past week. He took the day down on the day that Mitt Romney accepted the nomination. But since the GOP convention ended, he's been right back out on the trail criticizing Romney, saying that what the GOP nominee and his fellow Republicans offered during their convention was not any new ideas, just tired old trickle-down economics.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: What they offered over those three days was an agenda that was better suited for the last century. It was a rerun.
HORSLEY: And Mr. Obama promised to outline a very different vision for the country when he accepts his own party's nomination this coming week.
RAZ: Why is Colorado so crucial for him?
HORSLEY: Well, all the states here are very important. This is a state where demographically he has some advantages - a growing Latino population, a lot of young college graduates. So it's a favorable climate. It's a state obviously that he carried in 2008. But it's a hotly contested state. The economy is not in great shape here. So it's a state where he has to extend a fair amount of effort to repeat.
RAZ: Scott, the campaign seems to projecting confidence, but I wonder in the wake of the GOP convention if you get the sense that there is some nervousness as well.
HORSLEY: I think both campaigns obviously want to project a sense of confidence but not a sense of overconfidence. When you talk to aides on the Obama campaign and really when you hear from the president himself, he makes it clear this is not going to be a cakewalk. They understand that the economy is not in great shape. They understand that there's a very high hurdle here, and they take the Republicans and in particular the Republican war chest very seriously. So I think they feel like this is a contest they can win but not one they can win without a lot of hard work.
RAZ: That's NPR's Scott Horsley on the campaign trail with President Obama. Scott, thanks.
HORSLEY: Good to be with you, Guy. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
