Michelle Obama visits Vermont

First lady Michelle Obama visited Boston and Vermont yesterday, as she and President Obama made a final dash for cash before the close of a fund-raising quarter that will provide the first relative measure of the strength of the 2012 White House contenders.

Republican front-runner Mitt Romney, making his second bid for the presidency, posted an early marker Tuesday when his staff announced he expected to raise $15 million to $20 million.

The first lady’s stops yesterday were expected to raise more than $1.2 million for the Democratic National Committee, whose primary focus now is ensuring the president’s reelection. The president had his own fund-raising trip to Philadelphia.

Final reports for the quarter are due in the middle of July.

Michelle Obama’s visit to the Chestnut Hill home of philanthropists Elaine and Gerald Schuster, the fifth such stop on a fund-raising tour that started in May, provided her with the opportunity to to make her financial pitch in very frank and personal terms.

A spectator, Melissa Richardson-Bronson, was impressed the President's wife traveled to such a small state. "That Vermont is something, and they are going to support a small state like Vermont," is how Richardson-Bronson described the message the First Lady's trip sent Vermonters.

Mrs. Obama said she hopes the whole nation joins forces, asking itself "What can I do to help military families?" "We have you in our hearts. We have you in our prayers, and we have your back," Michelle Obama told the audience to conclude her speech. They rose and applauded, many clamoring to snap photos of the First Lady.

From the military facility, Mrs. Obama traveled by motorcade to two separate private fundraisers for her husband's presidential reelection fund. Together, the parties were expected to rake in around $500,000 in donations. A small handful of protesters were waiting for Mrs. Obama outside a hotel where she was appearing. They were accusing President Obama of not doing enough to end overseas fighting. WPTZ-TV reports that more protesters were outside a science center on Lake Champlain where Mrs. Obama was appearing next.

Both of the political fundraisers were closed to most representatives of the Vermont media. One single print reporter was allowed inside of each event.

She told an audience of about 120, which included Governor Deval Patrick but was mostly women, about her transformation as a political wife, as well as the toll the presidency takes on her husband each day.