Grammy winner campaigns in Northwest Ohio - 13abc.com Toledo (OH) News, Weather and Sports

President Obama got help campaigning here in Northwest Ohio from a world famous musician on Monday. will.i.am is part of the group "The Black Eyed Peas" and he made a stop at two local college campuses.

He says his interest in the campaign started before the last election with the three words "Yes we can."  He says he quickly realized that he was a big part of the "we" in that statement. He's spending two days campaigning here in Ohio. He'll end up with President Obama in Columbus on Tuesday.

will.i.am got it all started at The University of Toledo today by telling the students just how important their votes are, "You guys have to know just how important this election is to making sure we are not moving backwards, we need to be moving forward."

The world famous hip hop and pop musician told the crowd about getting his start in the projects of Los Angeles, "I don't want to complain about it, I want to try my best to bring opportunity to the underdeveloped communities."

He says President Obama is the best man to accomplish that, "It's a long road. It is not just the next four years, it's the next four years after that and so on. You have to set a long term course for America. Instead of thinking in short four year snippets we need to be thinking in the long term like a 20 year plan. President Obama finishing his second term will start us down that path."

And this wasn't will.i.am's first trip to town, "I travel whenever I have time off to places like Toledo and this is great, I remember coming here on tour a long time ago!"

Jennifer Couture and her children came to UT today for a chance to see will.i.am. They canvas Toledo area neighborhoods every weekend in an effort tot get people registered to vote. They went to President Obama's rally in Bowling Green last month and they are heading to Columbus tomorrow to see him,"I am a college student and he's all about education. My kids and I volunteer for his grass roots campaign here in Toledo and it's one of the greatest things we have ever been a part of."

will.i.am also made a stop on the Bowling Green campus Monday afternoon. On a side note, he has started several charitable foundations to help people in need, including one that sends kids to school debt free, another keeps families from losing their homes to foreclosure.