GUY RAZ, HOST:
Now, it's not just the candidates who are stumping this weekend. It's also their surrogates. In a few moments, we'll check in with former Minnesota Congressman Vin Weber. He's a senior adviser to Mitt Romney. But first, let me bring in Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. He's been out campaigning on behalf of President Obama all weekend. Governor, welcome to the program.
GOVERNOR DEVAL PATRICK: Guy, thanks for having me.
RAZ: Governor Patrick, none of us are, of course, in the prediction business, but there are some who believe that this election may not be decided on Tuesday, that it may take a few more days or even up to 10 days if Ohio is not definitive to determine who the winner is. What can you do now as a surrogate for the Obama campaign to convince people one way or the other? I mean, don't you think most people have already committed?
PATRICK: Well, I think, first of all, people - all of us - we get the government we deserve. And if we sit it out and we leave it to the interests that are well-financed who have a way of, frankly, assuring their interests no matter who is in power, then we will get what we deserve. But what we're trying to do in this campaign is to make sure folks know that this is about their future, it's about their government and about the character of their country.
And if they want a country that is about common cause and common destiny, about lifting us all up and making sure that people have a stake in the future of the American dream, then they will come out and they will participate in large numbers, and they will vote for President Obama.
RAZ: Governor Patrick, I want to play a clip from President Clinton on Friday. He was at Palm Beach State College in Lake Worth, and this is what he said.
PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: I may be the only person in America, but I am far more enthusiastic about President Obama this time than I was four years ago.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
RAZ: He said: I may be the only person in America who's more enthusiastic this time than the last time - an interesting way of endorsing President Obama by former President Clinton. But I mean, it does, in a sense, speak to an enthusiasm gap not only among the president's supporters, but people who supported him in 2008 and who aren't sure about 2012. Would you agree that there is a bit of an enthusiasm gap?
PATRICK: Not one bit. And I think what President Clinton was talking about is not some sort of enthusiasm gap, but the fact that after you've seen this president's steeliness, his toughness of mind, his resolve to lift this economy out of near depression and add five and a half million jobs in the last 30 months or so more than George W. Bush in the last eight years, when you see that he has delivered against extraordinary odds, health care for every American in every corner of the country after, you know, 90 years of trying, ending the war in Iraq, bringing Osama bin Laden to justice and on and on, when you consider all of that against extraordinary economic and political odds, it really raises my esteem and, I think, President Clinton's esteem for this president and his readiness for a second term.
RAZ: If President Obama is not re-elected, what does it mean for Democrats?
PATRICK: Well, I'm not sure what it means for Democrats. I think more to the point, it means something profound for this country. It means that we walk away from our character and history as a land of opportunity and we move toward being a country where everybody's on his or her own, and good luck. The notion of common cause and common destiny is how this country has taken its largest and most profound steps forward throughout its history, and that is what, in effect, Governor Romney is running against. So I have reasons that go well beyond party and personal friendship for enthusiastically supporting President Obama's re-election.
RAZ: That's Governor Deval Patrick. He's out campaigning today for President Barack Obama's re-election in his state of Massachusetts. Governor Patrick, thank you so much for talking with us.
PATRICK: Guy, thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.