Politics
Election 2012: Obama vs Romney – America Votes
The common denominator for both candidates was Ohio, the most critical of the battlegrounds, particularly for Romney. Without the state’s 18 electoral votes, the path to victory becomes very narrow for the Republican.
Polls have shown Obama with a small but steady lead in the state for months, sparked in part by his support for a federal bailout of the auto industry, which accounts for one of every eight jobs in Ohio, and by a strong state economy with an unemployment rate lower than the 7.9 percent national rate.
That undercut the central argument of Romney’s campaign – that his business experience made him uniquely qualified to create jobs and lead an economic recovery.
Obama fought back through the summer with ads criticizing Romney’s experience at the equity fund Bain Capital and portraying him as out of touch with ordinary Americans.
That was part of a barrage of advertising in the most heavily contested battleground states from both candidates and their party allies, who raised a combined US$2 billion.
The rise of “Super PACs,” unaffiliated outside groups that can spend unlimited sums on behalf of candidates, also helped fuel the record spending on political ads that swamped swing-state voters.
Romney planned to vote at home in Massachusetts in the morning before a final trip to Ohio and Pennsylvania, a Democratic-leaning state that he has tried to put in play in recent weeks.
Obama, who voted in October by taking advantage of early voting procedures, will spend the day at his home in Chicago. Vice President Joe Biden stood patiently in a long line, chatting and joking with voters, as he cast his ballot in his home state of Delaware.
