President Obama ends his campaign swing in Minnesota on Saturday. | AP

CAROL E. LEE

10/23/10 5:49 PM EDT

MINNEAPOLIS — President Barack Obama finished the longest campaign trip of his presidency Saturday much in the way he started: criticizing Republicans for wanting to take the country backward and trying to rally disheartened Democrats to the polls.

For Democratic supporters from 2008 who are thinking about switching sides this election, Obama paraphrased Albert Einstein. “The true sign of madness is if you do the same thing over and over again and expect the same result,” he said during a rally at the University of Minnesota.

“All of you have to vote,” Obama told thousands of supporters. “There is no excuse.”

The president, who was in Minnesota to stump for gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton, continued to attack Republicans by framing the election as a choice — between tax cuts for the middle class or tax cuts for the wealthy, he said, and a reformed health care, credit card and financial system or the same policies that were in place before he took office.

“We’ve got a different idea about what the future should hold for America,” Obama said. Republicans, he said, are offering “same old stuff that they have been peddling for the last decade,” whether it’s on Social Security, the environment or foreign policy.

“We believe in making sure people don’t get ripped off when they sign up for a mortgage,” Obama said, suggesting Republicans don’t. “That’s the choice in this election.”

Obama, whose party is facing strong headwinds this November, tried to inspire 2008 enthusiasm in the crowd, as he has at events in Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles and Las Vegas over the past four days.

He cast support for his candidacy as “a movement” they began two years ago and urged voters to stick with him through this tough political climate.

“We’re just in the first quarter,” Obama said inside a university gymnasium. “We’ve got a lot more quarters to play.”

The crowd cheered, turning into a flood of Dayton campaign signs and several leftovers from 2008, including “Teamsters for Obama.”

Minnesota’s gubernatorial election is one of the few places in the country where Democrats are poised to make gains. Dayton, who introduced Obama at the rally, is ahead in the polls. And the White House would very much like to take some credit for it if he wins. Obama’s visit Saturday follows one earlier this month by Vice President Joe Biden.

For his part, Dayton has adopted the Obama campaign lingo.

“Are you fired up and ready to work hard for 10 more days?” he asked the crowd.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/44066.html#ixzz13MrT2O39