Michelle Obama, 2012 Presidential Election | featured news

The election is still three weeks away, but first lady Michelle Obama voted for the president on Monday. "The president and first lady are making history by voting early in person and by mail in order to promote the ease, convenience, and importance of voting," the Obama campaign said in a press release on Monday.

President Barack Obama on Monday sought to woo women voters at a taping of the daytime talk show "The View," by flirting with his wife and bearing gifts for the hosts, but he could not escape tough questions on the economy that have dominated the election.

If Barack Obama is re-elected on November 6, he will owe more to his first lady than any president ever to win a second term. On Tuesday night in Charlotte, North Carolina, Michelle Obama gave one of the finest speeches ever delivered at a national political convention. More important, it could have more impact on the immediate future of the country than her husband's celebrated 2004 keynote address to the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

The patchwork quilt that is the Democratic Party base -- women, Latinos, African-Americans -- will be on full display at Tuesday night's opening session of the national party convention. The highlight will be a prime-time address by First Lady Michelle Obama who is expected to play the same role Ann Romney did one week ago at the GOP gathering in Tampa: eschewing hard-edged politics for a soft-focus testimonial to her husband.

It's no coincidence that Michelle Obama and Ann Romney are showing up a lot more as the tight presidential race barrels into the final few months. The rival campaigns are rolling out their top assets in a big way. The first lady is the public face of a new grass-roots mobilizing effort for Team Obama. And Mrs. Romney's recent interviews have put her on display cutting through the campaign din - including her blunt statement Thursday that her husband has provided everything that "people need to know" and won't be releasing more tax returns.