By John McDevitt

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – In advance of Mitt Romney’s campaign visit to the Philadelphia area Friday, Mayor Michael Nutter participated in a news conference by way of telephone Thursday, stumping for President Obama.

“President Obama has closed the doughnut hole in Medicare and made healthcare more affordable for our seniors,” Nutter said. “President Obama has supported our troops abroad and our veterans when they returned home.  President Obama increased access to Pell grants for an additional 10-million college students and invested in early childhood education and took our economy and brought it back from the brink of collapse and got it growing again.”

Nutter said we are fortunate to have a president who “gets it.”

“President Obama has shown this not just in words, but also in deeds looking out for all Americans, working to expand opportunity, reward hard work and make sure everyone from Wall Street to Main Street plays by the same rules.”

The other person on the call was Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman Jim Burn who said Romney’s tax plan is for millionaires and billionaires to pay lower tax rates than many middle class families.