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The Presidential Planner

October 20, 2009 7:24 AM

ABC News' Sunlen Miller reports:

President Obamawill start his day in Washington, D.C. with a meeting with Prime Minister Maliki of Iraq in the Oval Office.

In the late morning, the president will honor army troops for valor in the Vietnam War. The president will hold a recognition ceremony to honor 86 veterans from Troop A, First Squadron, 11th Armored Combat Regiment of the U.S. Army, with the “Presidential Unit Citation” for actions in Vietnam.

“The citation recognizes Troop A’s extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry on March 26, 1970 when it volunteered to rescue an American infantry company surrounded on the Cambodian border by an overwhelming enemy force,” The White House said in a statement, “The determined enemy had resisted hours of aerial and artillery bombardment and was expected to destroy or capture the 100 American infantryman within hours.”

Afterward, the president will travel to New York City where he has a grab bag of events for the rest of the day. 

First the president will visit the New York FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) to thank officers and agents involved in the arrest of alleged terrorist bomb plotter, Najibullah Aziz, law enforcement officials tell ABC’s Rich Esposito. The presidential visit to the JTTF’s offices in Manhattan’s Chelsea district marks the second time the president has publicly stated his satisfaction with the way law enforcement has handled the case.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the president’s visit is part of ongoing efforts by the administration to thank those in law enforcement.

“The professionalism of those that keep a watch over our country, the president thinks, is something we should continually laud,” Gibbs said at yesterday’s daily briefing.

Later, the president will put on his Democratic fundraising hat in a trifecta of events in the Big Apple.

He will first speak at a fundraiser for Bill Owens -- the Democratic candidate for the 23rd NY Congressional District race at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The special election in the long-time Republican stronghold was forced when the president named the incumbent, Republican John McHugh to Army Secretary.

Today’s fundraiser for Owens is just one of the many campaign events the president is holding to throw his support behind local Democrats. Tomorrow, he’ll appear at a rally for New Jersey’s incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine. On Friday the president will make two fundraising stops: in Massachusetts for Gov. Deval Patrick and Connecticut for Sen. Chris Dodd, who are both up for reelection next year. Next Tuesday, the president will campaign with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds in Virginia.

Later this evening, the president will appear at a Democratic National Committee (DNC) fundraiser also held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, with ticket prices at the asking price of $15,200/person and $30,400/couple.

Rounding out his day, the president will participate in a rally as part of the fundraising arm of the DNC, Organizing for America’s “Time to Deliver” event on health care reform.

The president's remarks will be streamed live via the web to house parties across the country in an effort by the OFA to get 100,000 calls into Congress urging them to get reform on health care done. 27,000 people are expected to be at the Hammerstein ballroom with ticket prices starting at $100 each.

Overall the DNC expects to raise between $2-3 million overall at tonight’s events.

 -- Sunlen Miller

October 20, 2009 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (4)

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Posted by: earl | Oct 20, 2009 10:57:08 AM

Posted by: MayBee | Oct 20, 2009 9:23:21 AM

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