President Obama officially begins his re-election campaign Saturday with stops in swing states Ohio and Virginia, though he's been in campaign mode for months, traversing the country talking about election-issue topics.

Obama won Ohio and Virginia in his 2008 election, and this will be at least his fourth visit this year to each of the states.

The campaign begins this afternoon at Ohio State University, where the president and first lady Michelle Obama will be joined by Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.

“It's rally day. Are you fired up? Because we're ready to go,” the first lady tweeted before she and the president flew to Ohio, which Obama won four years ago with 51.3 percent of the vote.

No Republican has won the general election without winning the state, which has 18 electoral votes.

Likely GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney -- who started his campaign last summer -- has campaigned in Ohio three times in the past several weeks and is scheduled to return with a town hall-style meeting Monday in Cleveland.

The Obama campaign appears to have two themes for the events, both on college campuses. A banner at the Ohio event reads “Ready to Go,” with the larger, 2012 theme being “Forward.”

The president has already attended 124 fundraisers to get money for his cause, though Saturday officially kicks off the campaign.

Though Ohio and Virginia have jobless rates below the national average, the trips come amid polls that continue to show a close race and a downbeat Labor Department report Friday that showed the jobless rate at 8.1 percent in April, but only 115,000 jobs being added that month.

The most recent poll by Quinnipiac University showed Romney ahead in Ohio , 44 percent to 42 percent, within the poll's margin of error but a significant change since the school's March poll that had Obama leading by 6 percentage points.

Quinnipiac pollsters note two significant factors on how Romney cut into the president's lead.

“Now the de facto nominee, Romney is no longer being attacked by his fellow Republicans, who are closing ranks behind him. Second, voter optimism about the economy has leveled off,” they said.

The president will visit Virginia Commonwealth University for the other part of the Saturday trip, marking the second time in two days he has been in the state. Obama spoke with students Friday at a northern Virginia high school.

A Washington Post poll released this week showed Obama leading Romney in Virginia 51 percent to 44 percent, among  registered voters, essentially the same numbers as a Post poll taken in April-May 2011.

Fox News Channel political analyst Dick Morris said Saturday the recent polls result are misleading because those surveyed should be un-registered voters, not likely voters.

“Obama will not get the undecided vote,” he said.