Rivals on attack as campaign nears endgame
Polling showed the candidates in a virtual tie for the popular vote nationwide, with Obama holding a slight lead in the all-important battleground states that will decide the outcome.
Beyond the nine so-called swing states, Romney was making a last-minute play for traditionally Democratic Pennsylvania with a massive advertising foray and a campaign appearance with running mate Paul Ryan in the state last night, his first stop there this autumn.
The Republican ticket cast the late push into Pennsylvania as a sign that Romney had momentum and a chance to pull away states that Obama’s campaign assumed it would win easily.
Obama senior adviser David Plouffe said Romney’s move was “a desperate ploy at the end of a campaign” given the Democrats’ million-voter registration advantage in Pennsylvania.
Nevertheless, Obama responded by dispatching former president Bill Clinton to the state for a four-city sweep today.
In heavily Democratic Cleveland, Ohio, yesterday afternoon, Romney slammed Obama for what he termed the president’s failure to end the partisan gridlock that has brought Washington to a virtual legislative impasse and for breaking his promises to vastly improve the economy while cutting the national debt.
Romney criticised the president for what Republicans claim are a series of broken Obama promises on both the economy and changing the political climate in the country.
Making his closing case to voters at his first stop in Des Moines, Iowa, Romney pledged, if elected, to work with Democrats to restore the American dream and bring the economy roaring back to life.
“We’re Americans. We can do anything,” Romney said. “The only thing that stands between us and some of the best years we can imagine is a lack of leadership — and that’s why we have elections.”
In Concord, New Hampshire, Obama told a rally of some 14,000 supporters: “I know I look a little bit older, but I’ve got a lot of fight left in me. We have come too far to turn back now. We have come too far to let our hearts grow faint. It’s time to keep pushing forward.”
Meanwhile, opinion polls showed the race for the popular vote in tomorrow’s election is so close that only a statistically insignificant point or two separated the two rivals.
The final national NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll showed Obama getting the support of 48% of likely voters, while Romney receives 47%. The poll had a margin of error of 2.55 percentage points.
A national poll from the Pew Research Centre found Obama with a three-point edge over Romney, 48% to 45% among likely voters, an improved showing indicating that the president may have benefited from his handling of the response to Superstorm Sandy. That poll had a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points.
The majority of polls in the battleground states — especially in the midwestern states of Iowa, Wisconsin and Ohio — showed Obama with a slight advantage, giving him an easier path to the 270 electoral votes needed for victory. No Republican has won the White House without carrying Ohio.
If the election were held now, an Associated Press analysis found that Obama would be all but assured of 249 electoral votes, by carrying 19 states that are solidly Democratic or leaning his way — Iowa, Nevada and Pennsylvania among them — and the District of Columbia. Romney would lay claim to 206, from probable victories in 23 states.
Michelle Obama is known for her toned arms and penchant for sleeveless dresses, but the First Lady is much more than a national style icon.
She has overtaken her husband in the approval ratings, scoring 69% against his 50%, giving her the unofficial title of most popular woman in America.
Michelle is the president’s most important political weapon, although as she once told ABC News: “I rarely step foot in The West Wing.”
Her appearances on the campaign trail have kept donations and votes steadily creeping in but, as she repeatedly says, her first priority is to her teenage daughters, Malia and Sasha.
Part of the reason why Michelle is so well loved by the public is because of her humble roots.
She grew up as Michelle LaVaughn Robinson in Chicago, where she lived in a one-bedroom apartment with her tight-knit family.
Her parents encouraged her and her older brother Craig to go to university, and Michelle studied at Princeton University and Harvard Law School.
The Ivy League-educated lawyer then started work at a law firm where she met her future husband. She married Barack Obama in 1992 and 16 years later she took on the full-time responsibility of being First Lady.
Michelle — who is known to hit the gym as early as 4.30am — was initially reluctant to give up her career, but has since thrown herself into the role with relentless hard work.
She is often compared to Jackie Kennedy, but Michelle is truly a modern first lady, and has more than one million Twitter followers to prove it.
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