President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will officially kick off the 2012 general election Saturday, May 5th with rallies at Ohio State University in Columbus and Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Both states, according to Obama’s senior campaign adviser David Axelrod, are places that represent both the old and new paths to Democratic victory. While Obama’s competition across the aisle, Mitt Romney, is planning to hit New Hampshire to jumpstart his campaign, the POTUS will not immediately follow up his trip with other campaign swings.

“Governor Romney hasn’t had a job in six years — he famously said he was ‘unemployed’ — he’s got every day, 24 hours a day, to run for president,” Axelrod said. “We don’t have that advantage, and the president is going to wrap up as his schedule allows until we get to the fall.” Campaign manager Jim Messina describes the kickoff day as a “ramp-up, not a zero to 60 moment, we won’t be doing a bunch of these rallies.”