WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama's quickening reelection race will shadow him at a summit in Colombia this weekend, on a trip ostensibly meant to improve US relations with Latin America.
Obama will take part in the Summit of the Americas at the beach resort of Cartagena, as his aides and foreign policy staff assure voters that the president, seven months before the election, has domestic goals in mind.
To hammer home the point, Obama will make his second stop this week in the biggest electoral battleground state of Florida before heading off to Colombia later on Friday.
Obama will speak in the symbolic surroundings of the port of Tampa, which will host the Republican nominating convention in August and lies in the state's most contested political territory.
Obama will then head to Cartagena, where he will advocate for US businesses and press for stepped-up trade and investment during the summit grouping the 34 members of the Organization of American States (OAS), an aide said.
"The US economy benefits substantially from our trade in the Americas. Over 40 percent of our exports currently go to the Americas," said Ben Rhodes, a deputy US national security advisor.
"This is very much in line with the president's initiative to double US exports, which support jobs creation here, back at home."
Obama will also stress the importance of free trade deals with Colombia and Panama, which were first reached under his predecessor George W. Bush but were renegotiated and ratified during his own administration.
There are hopes that the final barrier to the full application of the Colombia accord permitted by the conclusion of a deal on rights for union workers could be announced in a meeting between Obama and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.
Obama's plan to increase exports, which is showing measurable progress, is part of an economic strategy designed to accelerate the patchy recovery on which his hopes of winning a second term in November may depend.
Once, US politics was said to stop at the "water's edge" -- meaning a president could expect to be immune from partisan attacks by domestic political foes while representing the country abroad.
But in today's hyper-partisan climate, those days are gone.
Obama habitually knits a narrative for domestic voters when he travels abroad: he struck a similar tone on trade and economics when he went to India in 2010 and to Indonesia last year.
The president is in reasonable political shape considering the crises that have battered his administration since he took office in 2009, but the environment is still challenging as he seeks reelection.
Unemployment is at 8.2 percent and there are signs that a recent upsurge in job creation may be cooling, just at the moment his likely Republican foe Mitt Romney has clinched his party's nomination and is looking to pounce.
Despite some gripes in Latin America that Obama is more interested in the potential of the Asia-Pacific region than the continent in his own backyard, the administration insists it is actively engaging the region.
"We really see the Americas as a success story, both in their own right and in terms of US engagement," Rhodes said.
"The economic success of the Americas is very much in our interest."
Apart from economics, Obama has another incentive in highlighting his Latin America diplomacy cementing his advantage among Hispanic voters ahead of the election.
"The president recognizes the deep interest that so many Americans have in our relationship with Latin America given their family ties in the region," Rhodes said.
"He views these trips as an important opportunity to demonstrate the close connections within the Americas and the significance that the US places on our relations with the hemisphere."
Obama is hoping his lead among Hispanic voters, a crucial electoral bloc, will help him win crucial states like Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and even normally Republican Arizona, in November.
However, despite his high personal popularity among the people of the region, Obama should not expect a universally warm welcome at the summit table.
Stephen Johnson, of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said that Obama's fixation with Asia had not gone unnoticed.
"It makes it seem as if it doesn't have a focus for the Americas. And that's something that's been noted by some of the leaders," he said.