Obama Practices the 2012 Two-Step Since President Obama's return from Hawaii last week, the White House has labored to dispel any notion that he is plunging into his re-election campaign. Mr. Obama, his press aides say, did not watch the New Hampshire primary returns, nor did he schedule a jobs event at the White House on Wednesday as a riposte to Republican charges that he hasn't created enough of them. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One en route to Chicago, Joshua R. Earnest, the deputy press secretary, repeated the White House line that Mr. Obama was not - repeat, not - in campaign mode. At this point in time, the president remains focused on his No. 1 job, which is serving the American public as the president of the United States," said Mr. Earnest, according to a pool report. There will be a time and a place for the re-election campaign to be fully engaged. But we're not there yet. Minutes later, the president landed in Chicago and headed straight for his campaign headquarters, located in a downtown office building. Reporters traveling with Mr. Obama were not allowed to accompany him into the office, where Mr. Earnest said he greeted and thanked campaign workers. "As you know, the president himself and the staff at the White House have been focused on the critical items on his agenda as the president of the United States," Mr. Earnest told reporters. The people who are working in Chicago, and have been for the better part of the last year, have been focused on his re-election, have ensured that he's had time to focus on his duties as president of the United States. The rest of Mr. Obama's itinerary? He attended three campaign fund-raisers, starting with a concert and rally at the University of Illinois, Chicago, that featured the R & B and soul singer Janelle Monae. Ticket prices ranged from $44 to $1,000. After that, the president was to swing by a fund-raiser at the home of a Chicago media mogul, Fred Eychaner (tickets: $35,800 per couple). He was to finish the night at the Hyde Park home of Evonne and Stuart Taylor, the managing partner of the Taylor Group, a private equity firm (tickets from $7,000 a person to $20,000 a couple).