Obama: Republicans Haven't Been Honest

President Barack Obama appealed to Midwestern voters to keep Democrats in power in Congress, telling a group in Iowa on Wednesday that the Republican Party has been dishonest about what needs to be done to revive the economy.

Obama has been on a four-state tour this week to try to fire up Democratic voters to avoid what increasingly looks to be a Republican takeover in the House of Representatives and, perhaps, the Senate in Nov. 2 elections.

With the U.S. economy recovering at a snail's pace and unemployment still near 10 percent, however, Republicans are set to make big gains. All 435 seats in the House and 37 of 100 Senate seats are at stake.

Obama, addressing about 70 voters in a grassy backyard in Des Moines, defended his efforts to improve the economy.

"We can't pretend that there are shortcuts," he said.

"When you look at the choice we face in this election coming up," Obama said, "the other side, what it's really offering is the same policies that from 2001 to 2009 put off hard problems and didn't really speak honestly to the American people about how we're gonna get this country on track over the long term."

Obama was in New Mexico and Wisconsin on Tuesday and will wrap up the tour Wednesday afternoon with a meeting with voters in Richmond, Virginia.

With just five weeks left until the elections, Obama was seeking to invigorate the Democratic base, young voters and independents who backed him when he swept into the White House two years ago.

However, the president also confronted stark voter angst. The first question he got in Iowa was from a woman who said of her son, a recent college graduate, and his friends: "They are losing their hope which is a message you inspired them with."

Obama responded by citing a list of areas of optimism, ones she could tell her son about it. He said his government is providing more students loans, trying to encourage private job growth, and making tough decisions now that will help the county reclaim its rightful stand as the top leader in innovation and entrepreneurship.

Over the long term, the president assured, "their future will be fine."

Obama spoke at the home of Jeff and Sandy Clubb. It's the second such "backyard discussion" he's holding in as many days as he tries to convince Americans to keep Democrats in power.

There is irony in Obama using Iowa as a venue to try to avert a Republican landslide. His victory in the January 2008 Iowa caucus put him on the path to the Democratic presidential nomination.

Almost every state is a battleground in the Nov. 2 elections, and Obama is devoting ever more time to campaigning for his party. A rally he held Tuesday night at the University of Wisconsin came the closest so far to recapturing the enthusiasm of his 2008 drive to the White House.