By Franco Ordonez and Tim Funk
fordonez@charlotteobserver.com; tfunk@charlotteobserver.com

President Barack Obama speaks at the Asheville Regional Airport, in Asheville, N.C., Monday, Oct. 17, 2011, during the kickoff off a bus tour. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

ASHEVILLE - President Obama launched his three-day bus tour of the Southeast late Monday morning by telling a crowd gathered in Asheville that he is in North Carolina "to listen."

"There doesn't seem to be much listening in Washington," Obama told a mostly supportive crowd at the Asheville Airport.

The President, who is scheduled to appear later this afternoon at West Wilkes High School, is touring North Carolina and Virginia to build support for his effort to follow last week's Senate vote shelving his jobs-creation plan by acting on individual pieces of it.

He cited polls showing 63 percent of Americans support his effort to create jobs but said "100 percent of Republicans are opposed."

"That doesn't make sense, does it?" he said, to cheers from the audience.

White House officials expect that Obama's $35 billion proposal to prevent layoffs of firefighters, teachers and police will be the first piece that Democrats try to get the Senate to pass.

Obama's latest foray into the state is yet another sign of how key North Carolina is to his re-election strategy. He narrowly carried the state in 2008, and was the first Democratic presidential candidate to do so since Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Since then, he's stepped up his wooing: He chose Charlotte to host the Democratic convention next year. And just last month, he visited the Triangle - touring a business in Apex and then touting his jobs plan to an auditorium full of students at N.C. State University.

Last week, Senate Republicans blocked Obama's full jobs package from advancing by threatening to filibuster. But the president said over the weekend that he'll keep pushing recalcitrant Republicans - and a few conservative Democrats - to approve individual pieces of the legislation.

Obama is hitting the road at a time when polls show him with some of the lowest ratings of his presidency. In North Carolina, an Elon University poll this month found that only about 42 percent of North Carolinians approve of the president's job performance.

But at least one poll suggests that, nationally, voters like the jobs bill - and approve of taxing the wealthiest Americans to pay for it.

The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found 30 percent of those polled were in favor of the bill, with 22 percent opposed and 44 percent with no opinion. When the parts of the bill were explained, 63 percent favored passage.

During Monday morning's remarks, the President said that if GOP Senators oppose that piece of the bill, "they'll have to come down to North Carolina and tell kids why they can't have their teachers back."

But Obama also worked to build support for another piece of his bill -- a proposal to spend $50 billion on infrastructure, including rebuilding a runway and taxiway that are too close together at Asheville's airport. He said it "is work that can be done right now -- widening a runway to boost tourism."

He stressed two themes during his remarks, which lasted a bit more than 20 minutes. Several times, he used the phrase "right now." And he also told the gathering that he plans to listen to North Carolina residents.

"When you take the time to listen, you understand that a lot of people are hurting out there," he said. "Too many people are looking for work. Too many families are looking for that sense of security."

Saying that the construction industry has taken a hard hit in the Tar Heel State, Obama added, "Here in North Carolina, thousands of construction workers lost their job when the industry went bust. They have experience, they have skills. All they want is to be back on the job. And there is plenty of work to be done."

To chants of "Four More Years!" from the crowd, the President said, " appreciate the 'four more years,' but right now, I'm thinking about the next 13 months.

"We have to do something right now."

Obama was accompanied by U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., when he stepped off Air Force One shortly before 10:45 a.m.

Hagan said passing the President's bill would have a quick impact in North Carolina.

"It would mean 8,000 jobs -- to refurbish our schools, to weatherize them, to make them more energy-efficient, and to put more science labs in many of our aging schools," she said.

Among those who came to see the President were neighbors Lynne Caldwell and Katherine Hensley of the Asheville area. Caldwell brought two of her children along. Son Graham Dugliss, 11, had the day off from school Monday because of a teacher workday, but daughter Sarah Dugliss, 7, was taken out of school for the day.

Caldwell said her father, who she described as a Fox-watching Republican, had made sure that she watched the Watergate hearings as a child. Caldwell remembers sitting with her father and watching Richard Nixon leave the White House in a helicopter after resigning.

"We want our kids to be in the moment, to know what's going on," she said.

Both Caldwell and Hensley said they have felt the impact of the recession. Hensley lost her home to foreclosure, and Caldwell's home is in foreclosure. Caldwell said she lost her job as a teacher at UNC-Asheville, and her husband also is looking for work.

In Wilkes County this afternoon, Obama plans to talk about his proposal to hire more teachers and improve the schools.

The school - home to 700 students and the state champion wrestling Blackhawks - is located way off the beaten track in an unincorporated burg called Millers Creek.

But Wilkes County School Superintendent Steve Laws, who will introduce the president, is quick to brag about the high school's academic accomplishments - it made the high-growth goals set by the state, and got a bronze medal three years running in U.S. News & World Report's annual review of schools.

It's also part of a school system that has managed to not lay off any teachers, Laws said, despite state and local budget cuts totaling $9.5 million over the last three years.

Stimulus helped in Wilkes

They did so partly by relying on a total of $6.1 million from Obama's first federal stimulus package, which passed in 2009.

And when he meets Obama today, said Laws, a Gaston County native, the first thing he plans to say is "Thank you for the recovery (stimulus) package. It kept a lot of educators working."

Laws said he understands the criticism about the federal government borrowing so much money.

"But we were on the precipice, and that was dangerous," Laws said. "Something had to be done and (Obama) did it."

It's questionable whether most of his fellow Wilkes Countians would agree with those high marks for the president: In the 2008 election, Republican John McCain trounced Democrat Obama in Wilkes, 68 percent to 30 percent.

Then there's the issue of the blue-collar county's unemployment rate - it's now about 12.1 percent.

"If the opportunity arises, there will be some folks asking questions," said Linda Cheek of the Wilkes County Chamber of Commerce.

"It's on everybody's mind - how are we going to get more jobs?"

But Laws said he could use the kind of federal funds Obama's jobs plan could bring: Because of attrition and retirements, the 1,500-employee school system lost 120 people in recent years that it can't afford to replace.

And there are two elementary schools, Laws said, that "are badly in need of rebuilding."

Aides on Sunday deflected questions about whether the trip - paid for with tax dollars, not campaign donations - was more about politics than policy.

Virginia, where Obama will make bus-tour stops Tuesday and Wednesday, is also a crucial Southern swing state.

"There are people in Washington, D.C., and all across the country who are eager to ascribe political motivations to everything the president does," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. "But an important part of his job is to travel out of Washington, to talk to people about the economy and how his economic policies are affecting them."

Still, N.C. Republicans blasted Obama last week for his "multimillion-dollar taxpayer-funded campaign."

And this morning, Secret Service willing, the state GOP plans to show up at Obama's Asheville event with a tow truck and signs reading "TOWBAMA - Flat Wrong for America."

Funk: 704-358-5703.

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