By Garrett Haake
President Barack Obama returned to the state of Kansas on Wednesday in advance of a speech designed to push economic plans laid out in his State of the Union address this week.
This is President Obama's first trip to Kansas since 2011.
The President landed at Forbes Field in Topeka just after 7:30 p.m., and he was met by a small delegation including Topeka's mayor and Kansas Governor Sam Brownback.
The President mentioned his roots in the state (his mother was born in Wichita) and joked with Gov. Brownback about Jayhawks basketball.
"I just said, he said he's gonna see Bill Self tomorrow, and I said well are they gonna sign you up? Are you gonna shoot some with them?" Gov. Brownback said. "He says nah. And I said well, we could use an extra few shooters here."
In a gaggle with reporters aboard Air Force One en route from Idaho, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said it was "no coincidence" that President Obama was traveling to two red states to sell his economic plans.
"I think the President does wants this to serve as a pretty useful illustration that there are some common-sense things where Democrats and Republicans can put aside our differences and actually focus on cooperating around issues that are most important," Earnest said.
Gov. Brownback said that while he "didn't agree with a lot" of what the President laid out in the State of the Union, he was open to working with him on pocketbook issues.
"I'd be delighted to talk with him about what he sees in similarity of approaches or things that could work together," Gov. Brownback said. "I certainly think we could get a lot better on tax policy federally in a way that could help us to grow in this state.”
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