President Barack Obama's mission when he comes to Madison on Wednesday: To celebrate the first anniversary of his presidential election with a talk about transforming education - and to dangle the carrot of billions in education dollars in front of state lawmakers like Wisconsin's who are considering reforms.

But before the president makes a policy speech in the cafeteria at Wright Middle School, he'll also spend time with students in an intimate setting - the school's library, where 40 pupils handpicked by the staff will ask him questions.

Beset by a still struggling economy, two wars, and a signature health-care reform still before a divided Congress, Obama has seen his poll numbers in the state and nation fall from the great heights of his January inauguration to the positive but more pedestrian figures of recent weeks.

In the first visit to Madison by a sitting president in 59 years, Obama will seek to focus the nation's attention on efforts that his advisers say will lead to better schools in Wisconsin and around the country.

"It's the first anniversary of the president's election, and we think that's important, because in this past 12-month period we have been able to meet and achieve various benchmarks consistent with the president's goals on education," Melody Barnes, director of the president's Domestic Policy Council, told reporters Tuesday.

The visit by Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan comes as a package of education reforms is speeding through the Wisconsin Legislature with an eye towards competing for "Race to the Top" dollars - $4.35 billion in federal stimulus money that could stream into a dozen or so states that propose innovative uses for it.

Spearheaded by Gov. Jim Doyle and endorsed by state schools Superintendent Tony Evers, several bills - including one that would allow state academic test results to be used to evaluate teachers and another creating a data system that would track students from preschool through postsecondary education - are scheduled to head to the state Assembly and Senate floors on Thursday, the last day of the current legislative session. Both bills echo priorities set forth by the U.S. Department of Education for "Race to the Top" grants.

"The president is going to go to Wisconsin, he's going to applaud their positive steps forward on reform," Barnes said, "and he's going to encourage other states to keep moving forward."

Grant guidelines are expected in coming weeks, and a first round of grants will be awarded in early January, she said.

Doyle said it was a coincidence that Obama scheduled his trip the day before votes in the Legislature on reform bills. He wouldn't speculate on whether the visit means the Obama administration will look more favorably on Wisconsin's application for the federal money.

Already, a $480.6 million chunk of federal stimulus funding has helped the state maintain its aid to schools amid a severe recession and budget crisis, helping save 3,932 full-time teaching jobs, according to a recent state report.

One political expert said Obama has an opportunity to claim the title sought by his predecessor, George W. Bush.

"He's in a great position to be what Bush wanted to be, the education president," said UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin. "Obama in this area has a chance to win more friends than he makes enemies."

Experts also said the speech could help him direct attention away from Tuesday's election results, when a Republican won the gubernatorial election in Virginia and the governor's race in New Jersey was too close to call at press time.

"The great advantage of controlling the White House is that you can change the conversation as needed," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "Depending on the election results, Obama may need to change the conversation, so you all are coming in handy."

Obama's visit also coincides with a Wisconsin gubernatorial campaign in which Republicans have fielded a couple of well-known candidates for the 2010 election while Democrats have failed to field a credible challenger.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who is contemplating entering the race, is expected to meet Obama at Dane County Regional Airport and appear with him at the Wright event.

Barrett and Doyle say they want to put Milwaukee schools under mayoral control - a controversial move but one of the reforms favored by the Obama administration.

Barnes said the White House chose Wright, the middle school with the highest poverty level and the largest percentage of minority students in the Madison School District, because it exemplified the kind of progress the administration wants to see in schools nationwide.

In 2008, Wright was recognized by the DPI as one of the state's exemplary middle schools. That year African-American students at Wright scored higher on average on state reading, language arts and science tests, but slightly lower in math, than black middle-schoolers across the Madison district and across the state.

The charter school has 249 students chosen by lottery,

Reporter Gayle Worland can be reached at gworland@madison.com or 252-6188. Reporter Jason Stein can be reached at jstein@madison.com or 252-6129. The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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