Obama to speak about economy at Northwestern U., taking a break from global crises

President Barack Obama is trying to frame the closing economic arguments of the midterm campaign with a speech at Northwestern University.

The speech Thursday is designed to let voters know that he hasn't forgotten about their financial struggles despite weeks of being consumed by global crises.

A CNN poll out this week found two-thirds of Americans say the economy would be their top issue when deciding their votes for Congress.

Obama's challenge is to walk a delicate line between taking credit for an economic recovery without seeming to disregard continuing hard times. His aides say this speech isn't designed to list new policy ideas, but to explain what he's done to help the nation recover from the Great Recession and describe his vision to help more Americans.