Entering the final lap of the presidential race, before he accepts the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama started out a four-day campaign through presidential front line states on Sunday, in an attempt to create an image of himself as the champion of the middle class and blue-collar workers.

"This election is about you, the teachers, the nurses, the cops, the firefighters, the farmers, who are out there struggling," he told about 400 people at the Gun and Rod Park in Eau Claire.

Obama's stop in Eau Claire, as well as in other towns he plans to visit this week in Iowa, Missouri and Montana, are a part of the his overall strategy to campaign in areas least covered by Democrats earlier.

"We like to go to places which aren't Democratic strongholds, where there are Reagan Republicans and areas where the (voter) registration is tilting, if we don't, and don't introduce him to people, we will never have a chance,” said Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki.