Politics
Election 2012: 2 days to go – Obama and Romney in bruising race to the finish
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 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 it a desperation move and a sign Romney still doesn’t have a clear pathway to reaching the required 270 Electoral College votes.
Democrats have a million-voter registration advantage in Pennsylvania. Obama senior adviser David Plouffe said that means Romney would have to win two-thirds of the state’s independents, a prospect he called “an impossibility.”
The final frenzy of campaigning comes in the wake of Superstorm Sandy that devastated the U.S. East Coast. It gave Obama a chance to jump into action as commander in chief and left Romney struggling to strike the right tone.
The economy has been the dominant issue of the campaign despite detours into foreign policy and social issues. At week’s end, the final jobs report before Tuesday’s election gave one last economic snapshot, showing the U.S. adding a solid 171,000 jobs and more than a half-million Americans joining the workforce. But the jobless rate of 7.9 percent was still higher than when Obama took office.
More than 27 million Americans have already voted in 34 states and Washington, D.C. Obama holds an apparent lead over Romney in several key states such as Iowa and Nevada.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press
