Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

top
US Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney supporters attend a rally in Englewood, Colorado, November 3/AFP

World

Obama, Romney race to finish line neck-and-neck

Obama (R) is greeted by former president Bill Clinton during a campaign at Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow, Virginia/AFP


With two days to go in a race that has turned on Obama’s economic record and Romney’s past as a venture capitalist and the question of whether he is ready to lead, the candidates are closely matched.

They are effectively tied in national polls of the popular vote but Obama appears to be in a stronger position in the battleground states, and if the polls are accurate seems to be in position to win re-election.

In the latest show of good news for the president, he led Romney by five points in Iowa in a poll by the respected Des Moines Register newspaper, and also appears well placed in Nevada and Ohio — in the trio of “firewall” states that could hand him re-election.

But the latest ABC News/Washington Post survey showed that the race for the White House was tied, with both Obama and Romney receiving 48-percent support among likely votes.

On Saturday, the rivals chased one another though the territory that will decide whether Obama will win a second term or whether Romney will recapture the White House for Republicans.

Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan trumpeted a “put country first” message to voters as he campaigned in New Hampshire, Iowa and Colorado.

In Milwaukee, Obama had pop star Katy Perry – wearing a tight blue dress embossed with the incumbent’s “Forward” slogan – warm up a crowd estimated at 20,000.

Obama hit out at what he said was Romney’s plan to let Wall Street return to the days when it had “free rein to do whatever” it liked, which he said had led to economic woes “we’re still cleaning our way out of.”

Wisconsin had been considered safe Democratic territory, but a combination of a resurgent Republican Party, waning enthusiasm for Obama and home state hero Ryan as Romney’s running mate has tightened the race.

Later, the president stopped in Iowa, the rural state that nurtured his dreams of the White House back in 2007, and wrapped up against the chill dusk air in a central square of the city of Dubuque spoke to a crowd of 5,000.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

“I started my presidential journey right here in this state… after two years of campaigning and after four years as president,” he said.

“You know me by now,” he added, implicitly comparing his trustworthiness to that of Romney.

Romney also debuted a new political ad Saturday, seizing on Obama’s comment in Ohio a day earlier when he told supporters angry at the Republicans not to boo but to vote, saying “voting’s the best revenge.”

The ad featured Romney telling his biggest crowd of the campaign in Ohio Friday that Obama “asked his supporters to vote for revenge – for revenge.”

“Instead, I ask the American people to vote for love of country,” said Romney, who repeated the message at a rally in Dubuque, Iowa where he blasted Obama for high unemployment and high gas prices, before traveling to Colorado.

In Colorado Springs, Romney said he saw Tuesday as “a moment to look into the future, and imagine what we can do to put the past four years behind us.”

“We’re that close right now,” he said. “The door to a brighter future is there.”

About The Author

Pages: 1 2

Comments
Advertisement

More on Capital News