Obama and Romney sprint for the finish

President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney launched a frenzied final weekend of campaigning today seeking an edge in a handful of battleground states that will decide the outcome of a tight presidential race that is going down to the wire.

National opinion polls showed a race for the popular vote so close that only a statistically insignificant point or two separated the two rivals. Soundings in the nine remaining battleground states tightened after Mr Obama’s poor performance in the first presidential debate, on October 3, and stayed that way.