Romney leads by a few points in some national polls of the popular vote, but Obama appears to be clinging to a narrow advantage in the state-by-state race to 270 electoral votes needed to secure the White House.
Republican party chairman Reince Priebus hit back at claims from Democrats that Romney’s momentum was leveling off and argued that key states like Ohio and Wisconsin were beginning to swing towards the challenger.
“They’re not where they were in 2008. We’re far ahead of where we were in 2008. Our ground game is better than their ground game,” Priebus said on Fox News Sunday.
Conventional wisdom holds that undecided voters break towards a challenger late in the race, fueling Republican hopes of an eleventh hour wave for Romney that could crest at the White House.
But Obama’s campaign counters that some pollsters and Republicans are underestimating both the likely turnout on November 6, and the proportion of minority voters who favor Obama.
Romney used his trip to Ohio to press home a new narrative that he is the candidate of change, in a swipe at the president, who made that mantra his own during his historic 2008 race.
“Our campaign is about fundamental change … taking a course correction in this country,” Romney said.
“If people think things are going well, well he’s their guy. But if people want change — real change — we’re the team that will bring that change.”