President Barack Obama looks across the tarmac as he boards Air Force One before his departure from Andrews Air Force Base, Md. on Sept., 13, 2011.

President Obama will take his jobs pitch to North Carolina today where he will highlight the ways the American Jobs Act would benefit small businesses and once again urge Congress to pass the legislation.

Obama’s speech this afternoon in Raleigh-Durham will be his fifth address on jobs in just seven days, and his third in a key battleground state. Obama visited Ohio on Tuesday and Virginia last Friday.

The pPresident’s first stop will be in Apex, N.C., where he will tour WestStar Precision, a small business the White House says will benefit from the American Jobs Act.

Obama will then deliver remarks on his jobs plan at North Carolina State University, “emphasizing the need for Congress to pass it now and put more people back to work and more money in the pockets of working Americans, while not adding a dime to the deficit,” according to the White House.

After returning to Washington, the first couple will attend the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s Annual Awards Gala this evening.