Biden will be in Davenport Monday to 'encourage all Iowans to vote early'

Vice President Joe Biden will do a public rally with Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Braley in Davenport on Monday where he will "encourage all Iowans to vote early," Braley campaign aides say.

Details on the time and location of the event are forthcoming, a Braley campaign news release says.

Biden was last in Iowa a month ago. On that visit, he didn't do a public campaign rally for Braley, who is struggling to overcome a fierce challenge from Republican Joni Ernst for Democrat Tom Harkin's open U.S. Senate seat. Instead, Biden helped kick off a 10-state voter turnout tour for a liberal group called "Nuns on the Bus."

Braley, a 56-year-old courtroom lawyer who has served in Congress since 2007, has recruited a number of high-profile Democrats to campaign for him in Iowa in the final stretch before the Nov. 4 election.

First lady Michelle Obama has appeared twice. (WHO-TV's Dave Price reported late last night that the White House transcript on Obama's event on Tuesday referred to Braley as a candidate for governor. Days earlier, the first lady called the congressman "Bruce Bailey" several times, and a month earlier, former President Bill Clinton also botched Braley's name during an Iowa trip.)

Obama opened her speech in Iowa City Tuesday by acknowledging that she misspoke and saying she often mixes up her own daughters' names, as well. She urged Braley backers to vote early; Democrats need to bank a hefty cache of early votes to overcome the traditional GOP voter turnout advantage on Election Day.

One politician who has not come to Braley's aid is President Barack Obama. Fifty-two percent of Iowa likely voters think Obama's support does more to hurt Braley than help him, The Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll in early October found.

Forty-four percent of Iowa likely voters have a favorable view Biden, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, but 51 percent have a negative opinion of him, the poll found.

Aides in the Office of the Vice President said Biden, after the event with Braley, will then travel to Rockford, Illinois to headline a rally for three Illinois Democrats - Gov. Pat Quinn, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos.