Obama campaign boosted by property recovery

Fresh signs of a housing rebound in the US and growing support in public opinion polls boosted President Barack Obama’s bid for a new term in the White House as Republican rival Mitt Romney struggled to quell a video controversy.

The former Massachusetts governor has been performing virtually non-stop political damage control ever since a video surfaced on Monday showing Mr Romney telling donors last May that as a candidate for the White House, “my job is not to worry about” the millions of Americans who do not earn enough to pay income taxes.