CHAPEL HILL — Michelle Obama urged North Carolina college students on Tuesday to work hard for her husband, making sure they and their friends cast ballots as early voting begins this week in the battleground state.

The first lady reminded the roughly 5,700 students packing a basketball arena at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that President Obama carried the state four years ago by just 14,000 votes, which she said broke down to just five votes per precinct. She challenged each student there to personally round up five votes to help re-elect the president.

"I want you to think about how, with just a few more evenings on a phone bank really, just a few more weekends knocking on doors, just one of you here today, just one person here today could swing an entire precinct for Barack Obama," she told the energetic crowd. "And if we win this state, we'll be well on our way to putting Barack Obama back in the White House for four more years."

Obama cast her own vote for her husband on Monday, sending an absentee ballot back home to Chicago.

"So that means that right now we are one vote closer," she said

The first lady spoke just hours before President Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney are scheduled to hold a televised debate in New York, previewing what will likely be some of the same points her husband will make to the country.

Whereas Republicans have claimed the president doesn't have a record to run on, Michelle Obama ticked off accomplishments from the last four years: getting out of Iraq, helping keep college loans affordable, putting health insurance within reach for millions of families, the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of Navy SEALs, saving the U.S. auto industry and 31 straight months of economic growth.

"He inherited an economy in rapid decline. But let me tell you, instead of pointing fingers, instead of placing blame, Barack got to work," she said. "That's why he cut taxes for small businesses and working families — because he believes that here in America, teachers and firefighters shouldn't pay higher tax rates than millionaires and billionaires."

The first lady held a similar get-out-the-vote rally last month in a gym at nearby North Carolina Central University in Durham. The Chapel Hill event marks the 12th time Mrs. Obama has visited the state since becoming first lady.

On Tuesday, she spoke near a large banner featuring the campaign slogan "Forward" printed in white letters over a field of light blue to match the walls of Carmichael Arena, home of the Tar Heels women's basketball team. President Obama used the same venue this spring for a speech to help build support for getting Congress to extend low-interest student loans.