Phil Sandlin / AP

First lady Michelle Obama gives the "Gator Chomp" to students as she speaks to a rally in Gainesville, Fla., Monday, Sept. 17.

It wasn't Obama's first reference to the George W. Bush era.

Earlier, she implored the crowd not to "turn around and go back" to economic policies that she said "got [the United States] into trouble in the first place."

Florida is clearly part of that mission.

The First Lady's visit may be an indication that whatever ground President Barack Obama has gained here and in other battleground states is going to be guarded closely.

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll last week showed the president holding a lead of five points on Republican nominee Mitt Romney among likely voters in Florida and Virginia, and a lead of seven points in Ohio.

"From now until November the 6th, we're going to need every single one of you to work like you've never worked before," Obama said.  She urged students to take advantage of early voting in order to volunteer on election day.

Hours before the first lady arrived in Tallahassee, a flap blew up over a surreptitious video that captured Romney at a fundraiser this year, telling donors that supporters of Barack Obama are "dependent upon government."

Obama didn't mention the controversy here in Tallahassee, and instead painted a broad picture of values she said she and her husband share.

"You have to be driven by the struggles, hopes and dreams of all of the people you serve," she said.  "As president you need a strong inner compass, a core commitment to your fellow citizen, that’s how you make the right decisions for this country. That’s what it takes to be a leader."

Late Monday, Romney said during a press conference that his remarks were not "elegantly stated" but reflect his philosophical differences with the White House.

"This is something I talk about a good deal in rallies and speeches and so forth, which is the president and I have very different approaches to the future of America," Romney said.

Obama campaign officials estimated 8,850 people showed up in Tallahassee. Earlier Monday, the first lady addressed students on the campus of the University of Florida, in Gainesville.

RICHMOND, VA -- First lady Michelle Obama reprised her role from the Democratic National Convention as the president's chief character witness during a stop here Thursday in the key swing state of Virginia.

At her first solo campaign event since last week's convention, the first lady told a crowd of about 1,800 gathered inside an ornate theater about the qualities that led her to fall in love with Barack Obama 20 years ago, well before he was elected president.

“What truly made me fall in love with Barack Obama was his character,” she said as the audience cheered. “His decency. His honesty. His compassion and conviction.”

And as she did throughout her speech, Obama pointed out aspects of her husband’s life that could arguably be placed in contrast with his Republican opponent Mitt Romney.

“I loved that Barack was so committed to serving others that he turned down high-paying jobs and instead he started his career fighting to get folks back to work,” she said, leaving unspoken the fact that Mitt Romney did, in fact, start his career with a high-powered job at a consulting firm.

She continued that theme when she described her husband’s time in office so far, saying he makes “decisions that aren’t just about the bottom line, but about laying the foundation for the next generation.”

While Obama did list some of her husband’s accomplishments at the convention, she got even more expansive this time, delving briefly into his work on issues like predatory lending and foreign policy.

“He cracked down on lending abuses so that today when you apply for a mortgage or a credit card, you know exactly what you’re getting into,” she said.

And when met with naysayers who might ask what the president has done for them, she told the crowd, “Tell them how Barack ended the war in Iraq. Tell them how we took out Osama bin Laden.”

Obama also made several specific appeals to one group the campaign hopes to win over Romney: women. In the latest NBC News/WSJ poll, Obama led Romney with female voters 51 to 41 percent.

Mrs. Obama said her husband “will always have our backs” after he watched his mother and grandmother both struggle, one raising a son as a single mother and one trying to get ahead in a male-dominated workplace.

Given that she was in town to promote her It Takes One voter turnout initiative, Obama also had plenty to say about driving turnout in this crucial swing state, whose 13 votes both campaigns covet (Mitt Romney was also campaigning here today).

The rest of her speech may have been full of broad, sweeping praise of her husband, but when it came to driving the vote Mrs. Obama got into the nitty-gritty of local turnout figures.

“Back [in 2008], we won Virginia by 235,000 votes,” she said, looking to tamp down applause at the figure. “While that might sound like a lot, think about this. When you break that number down, that’s just 100 votes per precinct,” she said.

“That could mean just a couple of votes in your neighborhood, right? Just a single vote in your apartment building,” she continued, urging the crowd to spend some time at a phone bank or knocking on doors.

“Just a few of you here today could swing an entire precinct for Barack Obama. And understand this: If we win enough precincts, we will win the state.”

Like her husband, Mrs. Obama did not begin her political remarks before first recognizing the deaths in Libya of four Foreign Service officers, including the country’s U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, late Tuesday night.

“And it's just important to say that our hearts and our prayers are with the families of those who gave their lives serving our country,” she said solemnly. “I wanted us to start with that.”

The first lady continues her Thursday Virginia swing with a stop in Fredericksburg later in the evening.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- For months, Michelle Obama has stood behind podiums at fundraisers and rallies, delivering many of the same lines she offered last night.

Famously disciplined and often relating her stump speech nearly line-for-line several times in a day, many of the first lady's biographical stories are well-worn to those who have followed her on the road: her father's pride in paying his bills on time, her husband's frustration at the glass ceiling that loomed above his grandmother, the president's late nights agonizing over the letters from Americans in trouble. 

But in front of a national audience and an adoring crowd, new imagery used by the first lady last night - and an implicit plea to voters to remain "in love" with the man they chose four years ago -- offered a personal and deeply emotive pitch that veiled some of her stories' unmistakable contrasts between her husband's personal history and that of the man who wants to replace him. 

PhotoBlog: See a 360-degree view of Michelle Obama speaking at the DNC

"We learned about dignity and decency - that how hard you work matters more than how much you make," she told the convention crowd, nudging against the narrative of Mitt Romney's wealth as a measure of his fitness to run the American economy. "Success doesn't count unless you earn it fair and square." 

Adding to typical references like the student loans that mired the Obamas as a young couple, Mrs. Obama added that her young beau's "proudest possession was a coffee table he'd found in a dumpster," hinting perhaps at an oblique response to Ann Romney's description of the ironing board that served as a dining room table for the newly married Romneys. 

Slideshow: Democratic National Convention

David Goldman / AP

First lady Michelle Obama waves after delivering remarks to the Democratic National Convention.

Launch slideshow

"Barack knows the American Dream because he's lived it," she said, repeating an old staple of her stump speech that - if delivered with a hint of indignance  - could draw a direct line to the implication that Mitt Romney has not.  

But Mrs. Obama's almost prayerful tone at times eliminated the possible sting that her pitch could hold for independent voters. And previously unrecited details, like her husband's obsessive monitoring of her infant daughters' cribs, personalized a man frequently tagged as "aloof." 

While much of the first lady's material was familiar, some language - particularly on the issues of abortion rights and gay marriage - was notably more direct than words she typically offers to audiences in Pueblo and Raleigh and Richmond. 

VIDEO: Tuesday night's DNC speeches

For example, Mrs. Obama extolled the bravery of "proud Americans can be who they are and boldly stand at the altar with who they love."  (She usually praises the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy but steers clear of words like "altar.") 

And she won roars of approval in the debate hall for saying bluntly that "women are more than capable of making our own choices about our bodies and our health care." 

Like her Republican counterpart Ann Romney, Mrs. Obama uttered the word "love" often -- a total of 15 times in her remarks. 

Ultimately, the challenge for the popular first lady will be to convince disenchanted voters that they would consider agreeing with one central sentence in her speech: "I didn't think it was possible" she said of her husband, "but today I love [him] even more than I did four years ago." 

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – First lady Michelle Obama said her husband remains anchored by the same values he brought to the White House nearly four years ago, on a night devoted as much to tearing down Republican nominee Mitt Romney, as building up President Barack Obama and his record.

Democrats’ message on Tuesday, the first day of the Democratic National Convention, was two-pronged and crystal clear. The evening’s speeches both sought to extol the president’s accomplishments and cast him as empathetic, while at the same time looking to deconstruct Romney and cast him as an impossibly worse choice for president.

Slideshow: The Democratic National Convention

The evening’s top-billed speakers embodied the dual purposes of Tuesday’s programming.  Michelle Obama said her husband was the “same man” he was before the White House, in a speech designed to put a softer edge on the  president’s case for re-election. And keynote speaker Julian Castro said Romney would diminish opportunities for voters if elected, in a speech that also weaved in the personal story of the San Antonio mayor, whom party leaders regard as a rising star.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

First lady Michelle Obama speaks on stage during day one of the Democratic National Convention at Time Warner Cable Arena on September 4, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

VIDEO: Tuesday night's DNC speeches

"I have seen firsthand that being president doesn’t change who you are – no, it reveals who you are," Michelle Obama said in her prime-time speech. "So in the end, for Barack, these issues aren’t political – they’re personal. Because Barack knows what it means when a family struggles ... Barack knows the American Dream because he's lived it."

And the first lady brought the crowd to their feet in closing: "I know from experience that if I truly want to leave a better world for my daughters, and all our sons and daughters ... then we must work like never before, and we must once again come together and stand together for the man we can trust to keep moving this great country forward…my husband, our president, President Barack Obama."

Mrs. Obama's speech capped hours’ worth of speeches in Charlotte, but stood in contrast against most of the day’s earlier speakers, many of whom offered sharp criticism of Romney. So strong were the attacks on the Republican nominee, that it seemed as though many of the efforts to build up Obama were secondary to disparaging Romney.

PhotoBlog: See a 360-degree view of Michelle Obama speaking at the DNC

A spokeswoman for the GOP presidential nominee, Andrea Saul, said late Tueseday evening in response: "On the first night of President Obama’s convention, not a single speaker uttered the words ‘Americans are better off than they were four years ago.’ Instead, there was a night full of tributes to government as the solution to every problem, even going as far as to say that ‘government is the only thing that we all belong to."

Though much of his speech focused on overcoming the difficulties associated with being a poor Latino in Texas as a child, the middle of Castro’s speech took aim at Romney in a way that was similar to those addresses.

"Republicans tell us that if the most prosperous among us do even better, that somehow the rest of us will too. Folks, we’ve heard that before. First they called it 'trickle-down.' Then they called it 'supply-side.' Now it’s 'Romney-Ryan.' Or is it 'Ryan-Romney'?" Castro said. "Either way, their theory's been tested. It failed. Our economy failed. The middle class paid the price. Your family paid the price. Mitt Romney just doesn’t get it.”

As if to clarify the evening's theme, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said: "We understand that progress is a choice. Job creation is a choice. Whether we move forward or back, this too is a choice. And that is what this election is all about."

Other attacks on Romney sought to exploit Obama’s current advantages over his Republican opponents among women and Latinos, two crucial voting blocs which could sway the outcome of the election.

Texas Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said Romney had “embraced the racial profiling policies of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and Sheriff Joe Arpaio” by way of praising Arizona’s controversial immigration law as a “model.”

And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who has clashed publicly with the Bain Capital co-founder by contending that there were years in which Romney paid no taxes, excoriated the GOP nominee as opaque and undeserving of trust.

(Reid's charge prompted a response from Romney spokesman Ryan Williams: "Harry Reid has once again shown that he is completely detached from reality. Senator Reid’s comments tonight are absolutely false and are another attempt to distract from President Obama’s abysmal economic record.")

Slideshow: Democratic National Convention

David Goldman / AP

Democrats gather in Charlotte, N.C., to officially nominate President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden as the party's candidates for the 2012 presidential election.

Launch slideshow

The tone of the first night of the Democratic convention seemed more aggressively negative toward Romney than much of the Republican-led criticism of Obama last week in Tampa. It was an emphasis in keeping with Democrats’ effort to turn the election into a choice – in which they try to make Romney seem like a worse pick than Romney – rather than a referendum on Obama’s record after almost four years in office.

The first day of the Democratic convention was also an exercise in energizing the party’s core constituencies. Among the speakers on Tuesday were the leaders of the AFL-CIO and SEIU, two of the nation’s largest labor groups, the president of the pro-abortion rights group NARAL, and speakers like openly gay Colorado Rep. Jared Polis, who praised Obama’s actions to expand gay rights.

Those strides toward building up Obama were certainly part of the programming on Tuesday night, and the achievements most frequently emphasized included the president’s signature health care overhaul law and the bailout of the auto industry in particular.

“Facts are facts: No president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the Great Depression inherited a worse economy, bigger job losses or deeper problems from his predecessor,” said O’Malley, the first prime-time speaker of the evening. “But President Obama is moving America forward, not back.”

On Wednesday, Democrats will formally name Obama their candidate re-election after a highly-anticipated nominating speech by former President Bill Clinton.

Obama himself will travel to Charlotte on Wednesday, joining Vice President Joe Biden who made it to the convention city this afternoon. Both men will speak outdoors on Thursday at Charlotte’s Bank of America stadium, the home of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and a potentially raucous atmosphere the president’s campaign hopes will recapture the imagery of Obama’s 2008 outdoor acceptance speech in Denver.

NORFOLK, VA -- President Barack Obama exhorted Virginians for their votes on Tuesday at his last campaign event before the Democratic National Convention this week in Charlotte.

Previewing the speech he is set to deliver at the convention on Thursday night, the president said: "I will offer what I believe is a better path forward. A path that will create good jobs and strengthen our middle class and grow our economy."

Obama pointed to the policy changes he has made regarding health care, national security and the economy as reasons voters should give him a second term in office.

But the president also used his appearance in Norfolk to criticize the proposals of his Republican opponents as well.

“On issue after issue, Gov. Romney and Congressman Ryan, they want to take us backwards. But the story of America is not about going backwards; its about going forwards,” the president said to a cheering crowd.

The Romney Campaign was quick to respond to the president’s speech. Spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg said in a statement: "President Obama has found himself on the wrong side of the issues Virginian’s care about the most." The Romney campaign went on to say that “there is no doubt that Americans aren’t better off today than they were four years ago."

Mr. Obama’s speech at Norfolk State University comes only hours before his wife is scheduled to deliver a prime-time address tonight from the convention hall in North Carolina.

Mr. Obama said he would watch the speech at the White House with his two daughters.

Calling the first lady, “the star of the Obama Family,” the president said he would try not to let his daughters see him cry while she speaks.  But went on to acknowledge that may be difficult to do, saying, “When Michelle starts talking, I start getting all misty.”

The crowd at Norfolk State was made up predominately of African American college students, two key segments of his political base whom Mr. Obama hopes to re-energize and rally in the next eight weeks before the election. Twice during his remarks when the audience booed as he spoke about Governor Romney, the president responded, “Don’t boo, vote.”

The rally in Norfolk was the second trip to Virginia made by the president in less than a week. Recent polling suggests that Obama and Romney are statistically tied in the commonwealth, and, as a result, both men have dedicated tons of resources and made frequent visits to the state, hoping to capture its thirteen electoral votes this November. Governor Romney also traveled to Norfolk last month to announce Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate.

CHARLOTTE, NC -- Republicans gathered here to counter the Democratic National Convention seized Tuesday on President Barack Obama's self-grade of "incomplete" after his first term.

Picking up on the grade the president gave himself with a Colorado television affiliate, a series of Republicans pounced during a press conference at at the Nascar Hall of Fame, where Republicans have set up camp during the DNC.

"I have a 10-year-old and a 14-year-old. I know if on their report card they came home with an incomplete that means they failed," said South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

When asked to grade his time in the Oval Office, the president told a local Colorado television station on Monday: "You know I would say incomplete ... but what I would say is the steps that we have taken in saving the auto industry, in making sure that college is more affordable and investing in clean energy and science and technology and research, those are all the things that we are going to need to grow over the long term."

Former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, Rep. Tim Scott and former Deputy Administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration Jovita Carranza also spoke at the press conference and all used it as an opportunity to slam the president's self assessment.

"When the president was asked what grade he would give himself, he obviously had a quick look at his report card and saw a big 'I' on it.  He thought the 'I' was for incomplete. The 'I' was for incompetent," said Sununu.

And tea party favorite Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC) was able to draw on some personal experience when giving his interpretation of the president's answer. 

"I understand an incomplete is a way to avoid a failing grade. As a freshman in high school, I flunked out," he said. "When you're in that situation you really want something that looks like an incomplete grade, but unfortunately what you get from the people who are actually grading you is a failed grade.  Our president was asked the question: Are we better off? It's a failed grade."

Haley also addressed women's issues just hours before Democrats are set to kick off their convention. One of Tuesday night's most-watched speakers will be Michele Obama, who is expected to stress her husband's humble upbringing. The well-liked first lady has been one of the Obama campaign's strongest assets in appealing to women voters.

As Planned Parenthood held a rally just a block away, Haley attempted to downplay the notion that abortion rights issues have alienated women from the Republican party.

"Let me tell you about women.  Women are extremely smart.  Woman are extremely right.  We don't only think about contraception. We think about a lot more then contraception. I know pro-life women that are in the Democratic Party. I know pro-choice women that are in the Republican Party.  but I also know that all women care about their budgets, they care about their jobs, they care about the economy," she said.

Slideshow: Democratic National Convention

David Goldman / AP

Democrats gather in Charlotte, N.C., to officially nominate President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden as the party's candidates for the 2012 presidential election.

Launch slideshow

WESTERVILLE, Ohio -- With just over 100 days to go before Election Day, Barack Obama's closest surrogate is trying to ensure that the grass-roots movement that launched him to victory in 2008 doesn't wither this year. 

In a two-stop swing in battleground state Ohio on Tuesday, first lady Michelle Obama formally unveiled the Obama team's "It Takes One" effort, a volunteer-focused drive to draw the friends and neighbors of existing supporters into community outreach on the president's behalf. 

Her remarks in Westerville and Dayton closely tracked with her typical stump speech, with a particular spotlight cast on her husband's belief in an inclusive "American Dream."

"He believes that when you've worked hard and done well and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you," she told about 2,000 supporters in a Columbus suburb. "You reach back and you give other people a chance to succeed as well. That's what the American Dream is about."  

As usual, the first lady did not mention Mitt Romney or Republicans by name, but her focus on her family's humble beginnings offered an implicit contrast to the Republican nominee. 

"My husband understands that promise, because that's his story too," she said of the president. "That's why I married him." 

Mrs. Obama's "It Takes One" pitch urges supporters to include one additional acquaintance in their campaign volunteerism at phone banks and voter registration drives. 

The new effort's rollout was originally slated for last Friday, when the first lady was to appear in Charlottesville and Fredericksburg, Va., but those rallies were canceled in the wake of the Aurora shootings. 

She warned Ohio supporters Tuesday that a single voter could make the difference in November's projected razor-thin margins in some electoral battlegrounds. 

That energy will be crucial in battleground states like Ohio, where Obama beat Republican John McCain by a comfortable four percentage points in 2008. Stopping after her Dayton rally at a local field office, the first lady promised a strong presence in the Buckeye State. 

"We're going to spend a lot of time in Ohio," she told the recipient of her surprise VIP call as she spent several minutes working the phone banks alongside Obama for America volunteers. 

NASVHILLE, Tenn. -- On the same day that the nation's high court upheld President Obama's health-care legislation, First Lady Michelle Obama told black churchgoers in Nashville that the black community's legal fights for justice continue long after the Civil Rights era. 

"The connection between our laws and our lives isn't always as clear as it was 50 years or 150 years ago," Mrs. Obama told thousands of members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church at their quadrennial conference in Nashville. "And, as a result, it's sometimes easy to assume that the battles in our courts and legislatures have all been won."

The first lady urged the audience to begin by addressing issues like their children's education and health with responsible parenting, but she added that civic engagement remains an important part of the equation. 

"But while we certainly need to start at home," she said, "we all know that we canot stop there because the fact is that our laws still matter."

Mrs. Obama did not directly mention the issue of health care in her speech -- or today's 5-4 ruling in favor of the health law's requirement that most Americans buy insurance.

But, later in the day, at another event in Memphis, Obama directly addressed the Supreme Court case:

“When it comes to healthcare, please, please tell people about the historic reform this president passed,” she said. “Tell them that today’s Supreme Court  decision was truly a victory for families all across this country. ... Because of this reform, help them understand that insurance companies will have to cover preventative care for things like contraception, cancer screening, prenatal care... Insurance companies will no longer be able to cap your coverage because you’re 'too sick' … (or) deny you coverage just because you have a preexisting condition."

During her speech here, she referenced civil rights battles that were won in dramatic court cases like Brown v. Board of Education. Today's fights, she said, are far less clear than that landmark 1954 court victory to end segregation. 

"What about all those kids growing up in neighborhoods where they don't feel safe, kids who never have opportunities worthy of their promise," she asked. "What court case do we bring on their behalf? What laws do we pass for them?" 

About 10,000 participants were on hand for the First Lady's address, which included some teasing of those who might shy away from talking politics at the churches that anchor their communities. 

"To anyone who says that church is no place to talk about these issues," she said, "you tell them there is no place better, because ultimately these are not just political issues, they are moral issues." 

Then-Sen. Barack Obama addressed the same conference during his presidential campaign in 2008. 

The first lady's remarks Thursday included frequent references to black leaders who she said paved the way for her husband's historic ascent to the presidency. She referenced the story of a son of an African American White House staffer who asked the president if his hair felt the same as his own. 

"If you ever wonder whether change is possible in this country, I want you to think about that little black boy in the Oval Office touching the head of the first black president," the first lady said. "And I want you to think about how children who see that photo today think nothing of it because that is all they have ever known. Because they have grown up taking for granted that an African American can be president of the United States."