CONCORD, N.H. — Just two days from the finish, President Barack Obama's campaign is mobilizing a massive get-out-the-vote effort aimed at carrying the Democrat to victory, as Republican Mitt Romney makes a late play for votes in Democratic-leaning Pennsylvania.
Obama was closing out the campaign with an apparent edge in some key battleground states, including Ohio. But both campaigns were predicting wins in Tuesday's election.
Romney's campaign was projecting momentum and banking on late-breaking voters to propel him to victory in the exceedingly close race. His political director, Rich Beeson, suggested Sunday that Romney could earn more than 300 electoral votes on Election Day. He needs just 270 to win.
Making his closing case to voters Sunday 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."
Obama, too, said he is willing to work across party lines to break Washington's gridlock, but assured some 14,000 supporters who gathered in Concord, N.H., he would not compromise key Democratic priorities such as health care and college financial aid.
"I know I look a little bit older, but I've got a lot of fight left in me," Obama said. "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."
Bridging the partisan divide could be easier said than done for both candidates. Obama has faced hard-nosed opposition from House Republicans during his first term. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said it's "laughable" for Romney to think Senate Democrats will help pass his agenda.
Romney was cutting away briefly Sunday from the nine or so competitive states that have dominated the candidates' travel itineraries. Romney, along with running mate Paul Ryan, had an early evening event planned in Morrisville, Pa., his first rally in the state this fall.
Romney's visit follows the decision by his campaign and its Republican allies to put millions of dollars in television advertising in Pennsylvania during the race's final weeks. Obama's team followed suit, making a late advertising buy of its own.
"You saw the differences when President Obama and I were side-to-side in our debates," Romney says in a new TV ad filmed at an Ohio rally and released Sunday. "He says it has to be this way. I say it can't stay this way. He's offering excuses. I've got a plan. I can't wait for us to get started."
The campaign did not say where the ad would run.
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 handily. The president's team called the move a "Hail Mary" and a sign Romney still doesn't have a clear pathway to reaching 270 Electoral College votes. Democrats have a million-voter registration advantage in Pennsylvania.
"This is a desperate ploy at the end of a campaign," said David Plouffe, a top adviser to Obama's campaign, on ABC's "This Week," arguing that Romney would have to win 2 out of 3 independents to pick up Pennsylvania. "He's not going to do that anywhere, much less Pennsylvania."
The two vice presidential candidates both planned hectic days of campaigning that had them crisscrossing the map. Ryan made a quick stop outside the Green Bay Packers' stadium in his home state of Wisconsin. Donning a Packers jacket and a yellow and green striped tie, Ryan and his family dropped by a tailgating party before setting off for Ohio, Colorado and Minnesota.
Vice President Joe Biden, campaigning in Cleveland suburb of Lakewood, told a crowd of about 1,200 people that Romney and Ryan were trying to fool voters by claiming to be more moderate than they really are.
"These guys are trying to play a con game here at the end," Biden said.
But no one was working harder than the two men at the top of the ticket. In addition to Pennsylvania and Iowa, Romney planned events Sunday in Ohio and Virginia.
Obama had a full schedule, with campaign stops Sunday in New Hampshire, Florida, Ohio and Colorado. He caught a few hours of sleep back at the White House Saturday night before hitting the campaign trail again Sunday. When Marine One lifted off from the South Lawn Sunday morning, it was the last time Obama would see the executive mansion until after Election Day.
Even as he dashed from campaign stop to campaign stop, Obama was careful to avoid the perception he had taken his eye off recovery efforts from Hurricane Sandy. As Obama flew Sunday from Washington to New Hampshire, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the president was getting regular updates and would have a full briefing from top officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who is in New Jersey on Sunday to view storm damage.
Former President Bill Clinton, who has joined Obama on the trail for the waning days of the race, called Obama's handling of the storm a clear example that the president has the right approach to fixing the nation's messes.
"It was a stunning example of 'we're all in this together' is a way better philosophy than 'you're on your own,'" Clinton said as he introduced Obama in Concord.
Both candidates were drawing large crowds as they dropped in and out of the most competitive states. Obama and Clinton drew 24,000 people to an outdoor rally in Bristow, Va., on a cold Saturday night. Romney's Friday night rally in Ohio drew more than 20,000 people.
The president's rallies are aimed at boosting Democratic enthusiasm and motivating as many supporters as possible to cast their votes, either in the final hours of early voting or on Tuesday, Election Day. Persuading undecided voters, now just a tiny sliver of the electorate in battleground states, has become a secondary priority.
Obama's campaign said it had registered 1.8 million voters in key battleground states, nearly double the number of voters they registered in 2008. Campaign officials said volunteers had made 125 million personal phone calls or door knocks with voters.
REG in AZ posted at 2:29 pm on Sun, Nov 4, 2012.
The Subterfuge v The Reality: Republicans claim Obama is taking $700B out of Medicare v actually it is $700B out of Medicare expenses; Romney says he will restore $700B to Medicare v the reality is Romney wants to repeal Obamacare which would restore $700B to Medicare expenses for Special Interests; Republicans claim Obama will have a trillion dollars added in taxes v actually Obama plans to raise taxes only for those earning over $250k and in the mean time Romney wants to cut taxes and drastically cut regulations, greatly benefiting the few and resulting in his numbers not adding up; Republicans say repealing Obamacare is a positive v the reality is that it is already providing benefit for many, most don’t want it repealed, the Republicans served their own interests in refusing bipartisan cooperation to develop healthcare reform and now they want to leave the people dependent on those who fought it and don’t want it, to come up with something of value; the Republicans fault “big government”, government spending and the deficit as the evil v the reality that while those things are good to get under control they didn’t cause our problems and concentrating there is a distraction from what did cause our problems - that consistently being aggressive exploitation by the few, allowed by permissive politicians seeking the support of “the money” and just costing the majority greatly.
REG in AZ posted at 2:30 pm on Sun, Nov 4, 2012.
Is America experiencing a moral and ethical decline much like the Roman Empire did after their rise to greatness? We elect politicians who are grossly dishonest just because they are aggressive and promise us “more”. We applaud financial success no matter how it is achieved and ignore quality without it. We follow clergy who excite with hype created over being “holier than thou” when all religious doctrines teach humility is God’s true way. We rationalize that we individually deserve “more” based on others having it and seek to attain it however we can. We have political movements shouting and demonstrating with their “more for me for nothing” mentality. We have a political party that just gives the 99% subterfuge as they self-servingly concentrate on catering to the 1% for their support. We have activists who are on national media constantly ranting and raving about how justified it is for the few to always be gaining “more” and rationalize that those needing are just looking for a handout. We have media, owned by billionaires and staffed by millionaires, that work to influence, at the minimum subtly, the public’s thinking, thereby failing their responsibility and the public’s trust. We have politicians who want to even cut benefits for children in order to give “more” to the very wealthy. ...
... We have politicians, with strong support from the “money”, who manipulate public opinion with deceptions aimed to excite emotions and appeal to selfish interests. They fault “big government”, which didn’t cause our problems, to distract from and condone the aggressive exploitation by the few, which does constantly cause our problems. We rationalize that our religious beliefs should dominate and control yet we fault countries who have followed those same paths. We have business, community and government leaders who demonstrate self-aggrandizing without ever conscientiously serving more than their own interests. We see many who take pride in their financial gains, with pride in real quality disappearing. We see the top 1% constantly pushing for “more”, without concern for the the 99% and then they propagandize that the 99% are at fault for needing more. On and on with the measurement and the motivation always being for material success, without guilt or concern for neglecting compassion or for being dishonest. No, this isn’t true of everyone but there is little evidence of it not being tolerated by everyone. Where is the honesty, the conscience, the compassion, the humility and the striving for personal quality that made America great? Is America in a drastic moral decline - I don’t know, but maybe you can tell by your own reaction to this and by how you vote.
REG in AZ posted at 2:30 pm on Sun, Nov 4, 2012.
FOXNews (of course), CNN (other than “Ticker”), USA Today, Time, Newsweek and AZ Republic all, without explanation, block me from posting in response to their articles. I never post anything crude and I think I always post in good taste. Whatever I post I do only because I think it should be said and I expect some will agree with me, some won’t, some will ignore what I say and others will think about it and come up with their own opinions, all of that being reasonable and as it should be. I really don’t post looking for credit or recognition and I simply don’t think any site claiming to be an objective news site should discriminate against anyone’s postings just to accomplish biased reporting, no matter how subtle they are. If you agree, feel free to copy my comments and post them where they won’t allow me to - maybe just to create a little bit of people’s justice.
loose stool posted at 5:02 am on Mon, Nov 5, 2012.
Time for obama to get out the busses and round up homeless people. Give them a pack of smokes and drive them around to vote as many times as they can.
daveofthedesert posted at 10:52 am on Mon, Nov 5, 2012.
Reg, I read all your posts...I find most to be right on the money...Like today. As for bussing voters, Romeny better start in his home state of Mass....He can't even carry that.
Accuracy posted at 12:08 pm on Mon, Nov 5, 2012.
In 34 states and Washington, D.C., about 30 million took advantage of early voting options today . . even though their votes won't be counted until Tuesday. And some state election laws permits election offices to receive absentee ballots through Tuesday as long as they are cast in person.
While, President Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney are out today making their final campaign stops in the toughest battleground states.
In Manchester, N.H., Romney called in help from Republican Arizona Senator John McCain. "One thing I can promise you is that Mitt Romney will never go around the world apologizing for America!" McCain told an audience of Romney supporters. Romney's team believes their candidate is surging at the right time.
REG in AZ posted at 5:43 am on Tue, Nov 6, 2012.
Whatever happens today this is my last posted political comment. In reality, when all is said and done, what I really would like to see is a 3rd political party that is focused on the people; i.e.,strongly focused on the middle-class while still respecting and wanting fairness, a literally “level playing field”, for everyone including the poor and the very wealthy. It could be made up of “centrists” and “moderates” from the two parties, with some qualified new blood added, all who see their responsibility as honestly representing the majority and their interests. Ideally they could prevent dominance by any one party and simply force compromise. Then possibly we could even accomplish installing term limits and also have better control and stronger restrictions over lobbyists, limiting their influence and their moving in and out of government positions. It would be nice to start by having the Supreme Court reverse their decision and to stop having unlimited funds running rough-shod over campaigns. Those things likely will never happen without first getting money out of politics, as the costs of accomplishing them are prohibitive and “the money” would very aggressively fight each of those changes, not wanting to loose their substantial advantage, just as they are currently stubbornly fighting Obama. Well that is enough of my “blue sky” thinking, good luck to all of us.
mxsfen posted at 7:18 pm on Mon, Nov 12, 2012.
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