Focus on swing states as polling day edges closer

President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney scurried through decisive swing states on Sunday, issuing promises of better days to come while castigating their opponent.

Nationwide polls show the men locked in one of the closest presidential races in recent American history ahead of Tuesday’s vote.

But a majority of polls in the battleground states – especially in the Midwestern states of Iowa, Wisconsin and Ohio – show Mr 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.

The race was so close that the final national NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll, released on Sunday, showed Mr Obama getting the support of 48% of likely voters, with Mr Romney receiving 47 %. The poll had a margin of error of 2.55%.

The final national poll from the Pew Research Centre found Mr Obama with a three-point edge over his rival, 48% to 45% among likely voters, an improved showing that indicates the president may have benefited from his handling of the response to Superstorm Sandy. The Pew poll had a margin of error of 2.2%.

In perhaps the most interesting late-campaign development, and with Mr Obama sustaining his lead in Ohio, a virtual must-win for Mr Romney, the Republican has opened a surprise, last-minute gambit in next-door Pennsylvania.

The state has voted Democratic in the last five presidential elections and has long been counted in the Obama column.

Mr Romney made his first visit to the state of the autumn campaign on Sunday, taking along running mate Paul Ryan.

The theme from the movie Rocky blared from the loudspeakers as he stepped to the podium in Morrisville, a Philadelphia suburb.

“The people of America understand we’re taking back the White House because we’re going to win Pennsylvania,” Mr Romney told a large crowd that had been waiting for hours on a cold night.

Mr Ryan, in an earlier stop in Colorado, said Mr Romney “will become a great president”.

He said he understands why voters loved President Obama’s message of “hope and change”. He is encouraging supporters to talk to their unhappy neighbours and urge them to vote for the Republicans.

Mr Obama’s campaign said Mr Romney’s move in Pennsylvania showed the Republican’s desperation and was linked to his diminished chances in Ohio.

The Obama campaign quickly bought advertising time in the state to counter a big ad push by Romney.

Officials also announced that former President Bill Clinton – Mr Obama’s most powerful surrogate – would make four campaign stops in Pennsylvania on Monday.

Making his closing case to voters at his first stop on Sunday in Des Moines, Iowa, Mr 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,” he 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 New Hampshire, Mr Obama began Sunday by saying he wants to work across party lines but added he would not give up priorities such as college financial aid or the healthcare law he pushed through Congress.

“That’s not a price I’m willing to pay,” he said, a reference to Mr Romney’s frequent pledge to dismantle the healthcare reform law that Republicans deride as “Obamacare”.

Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden is predicting that he and President Obama will win the election – and says he does not think it will be close in the Electoral College.

Mr Biden, who campaigned in Ohio on Sunday, told Chris Matthews of MSNBC that he and Mr Obama would win Ohio.

He said he thought that Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa would “hold firm” and that he and Mr Obama would “win clearly”.