First lady backs Quinn in first ’14 ad

First lady Michelle Obama stayed close to home when taping her first television ad for a Democratic candidate this cycle.

The campaign of embattled Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn released a commercial featuring Obama on Monday, a day before the first lady is slated to headline a “grassroots campaign event” with the governor in Chicago.

{mosads}”This election, Barack and I are casting our votes for our friend, Pat Quinn,” the first lady says in the spot, which features video of her and Quinn appearing together at a bill signing.

The governor has been locked in a tough reelection battle, with a Rasmussen poll released late last month showing him leading Republican Bruce Rauner 44 percent to 42 percent. President Obama attended a fundraiser for Quinn last week in Chicago, although he did not appear publicly with the candidate.

In fact, the president has yet to appear at a political rally with a candidate this election cycle — underscoring the liability of his depressed approval ratings for vulnerable Democrats.

The first lady remains far more popular, and has increased her campaign activities in recent weeks. In early September, she traveled to Georgia for an event benefiting Democratic Senate candidate Michelle Nunn.

Last week, the first lady visited Wisconsin, to provide an assist to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke; Boston, for an event with Attorney General Martha Coakley, who is running to replace the outgoing Gov. Deval Patrick; and Maine, to appear alongside Rep. Mike Michaud, who is also seeking the governor’s mansion.

The first lady will return to Wisconsin on Tuesday before her event in Illinois for Quinn.

“We all need to be as passionate and hungry for this election as we were in 2008 and 2012,” Obama said during her stop in Milwaukee last week.

“When the midterms come along, too many of our people just tune out, and that’s what a lot of folks on the other side are counting on this year,” she continued. “They’re assuming that we won’t care, they’re assuming that we won’t be organized and energized — and only we can prove them wrong.”