COLORADO SPRINGS — President Barack Obama relayed a message to the middle-class Thursday afternoon on a grassy quad at Colorado College, often times interrupted by chants of “Four more years! Four more years!” from the thousands in attendance.

“This election is a choice between two fundamentally different visions for how we move this country forward,” said Obama to a crowd of about 4,200 gathered outside in temperatures in the mid-90s. “The direction you choose in November is going to affect not only us, but our kids and grand kids for decades to come.”

Exactly four weeks since his last visit to Colorado, President Barack Obama returns on a two-day stop, reaffirming the political importance of the state for the 2012 election.

Shortly after his arrival this evening, Obama is scheduled to attend a pair of private high-dollar fundraisers at the Pepsi Center, where guests will donate a minimum of $250, and a maximum of $35,800 to participate.

Benefits from the fundraisers go toward the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee that supports the president’s re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Often overshadowed by what seems like constant rhetoric from politicians, critics and economists about job creation and the economic instability of the country are the stories of common individuals who are unable to find work.

Here in Colorado, the unemployment rate is 8.5 percent.

Between July and August, the state failed to create any jobs. Instead, it lost 1,800.

Today, President Barack Obama returns to Colorado for the first time in more than a year to promote the American Jobs Act, a plan he presented to a gridlocked Congress this month.