Obama attacks Republicans with gusto on clouded final campaign push

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WOONSOCKET, Oct 26 (AP): President Barack Obama attacked Republicans with gusto Monday as he plunged into a final week of midterm election campaigning, but his party's prognosis remained darkened by the feeble economy and his itinerary was designed largely to minimise losses.
Nor was his greeting totally friendly in a state where Obama has pointedly declined to endorse his party's candidate for governor.
Obama can "take his endorsement and really shove it," declared Democrat Frank Caprio, battling Republican-turned-independent Lincoln Chafee in a Rhode Island gubernatorial race rated tight in the polls. Chafee endorsed Obama during the 2008 campaign for the White House.
In a little more than five hours in the state, Obama was booked for a factory tour and for a pair of fundraisers that party officials said would bring in $500,000.
He said Republicans had driven the economy into a ditch and then stood by and criticized while Democrats pulled it out.