WIZM Top stories of 2015 – No. 3: Welcome to La Crosse President Obama

First sitting president
to visit city in over decade

A visit from a sitting president to La Crosse hadn’t happened in over a decade, until last summer.

President Barack Obama’s visit at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse to talk about the economy ranks No. 3 in AM 1410 WIZM’s top stories of 2015.

La Crosse was abuzz for Obama’s visit to a packed Recreational Eagles Center – the first visit from an incumbent president for the school.

It started when Wisconsin’s Republican governor Scott Walker greeted the Democratic president at the La Crosse airport on July 2.

Later, Obama had some cutting, if not funny, things to say about the Republicans who want to replace him. 

During his speech, Obama criticized the Republican field of would-be successors. To laughter and applause, Obama quipped that, while there was some healthy competition in the democratic field of candidates for president, he had “lost count of how many Republicans were running for this job.”

It wasn’t long after that, Walker put his name in the hat for president. And it wasn’t long after that, Walker withdrew his name for president.

Several Democratic lawmakers attended Obama’s speech, including Senator Tammy Baldwin and Congressman Ron Kind.

George W. Bush’s 2004 rally at Loggers Field was the last commander-in-chief to speak in La Crosse.