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| President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event at The Ohio State University Oval Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012, in Columbus, Ohio. |
SIDNEY, Ohio
(AP) -- President Barack Obama conceded Wednesday he did poorly in a
debate last week that fueled a comeback by his rival in the race for the
White House. Mitt Romney barnstormed battleground Ohio and pledged "I'm
not going to raise taxes on anyone" in a new commercial.
A
perennial campaign issue flared unexpectedly as Romney reaffirmed he is
running as a "pro-life candidate and I'll be a pro-life president." He
spoke one day after saying in an interview he was not aware of any
abortion-related legislation that would become part of his agenda if he
wins the White House.
Romney and Obama
maneuvered in a race with 27 days to run as Vice President Joe Biden and
Republican running mate Paul Ryan looked ahead to their only debate,
set for Thursday night in Danville, Ky.
Whatever
the impact of the Biden-Ryan encounter, last week's presidential debate
boosted Romney in the polls nationally and in Ohio and other
battleground states, to the point that Obama was still struggling to
explain a performance even his aides and supporters say was subpar.
"Gov. Romney had a good night. I had a bad night. It's not the first time I've had a bad night," Obama said in an ABC interview.
Asked if it was possible he had handed the election to Romney, the president replied: "No."
"What's
important is the fundamentals of what this race is about haven't
changed," he said. "You know, Gov. Romney went to a lot of trouble to
try to hide what his positions are," he said, referring to abortion as
an example.
Despite the presidential display
of confidence, public opinion polls suggested the impact of last week's
debate was to wipe out most, if not all, of the gains Obama made
following both parties' national conventions and the emergence in late
summer of a videotape in which Romney spoke dismissively of 47 percent
of Americans whom he said pay no income taxes. They feel as if they are
victims, he said, adding they don't take personal responsibilities for
their lives.
Eager to capitalize on his
newfound momentum, Romney told more than 7,000 packed into a western
Ohio rally: "We can't afford four more years of Barack Obama."
The
Republican challenger made three public appearances in Ohio on
Wednesday and will spend two of the next three days in the state.
"Ohio
could well be the place that elects the next president of the United
States," he said. "I need you to do that job. We're going to win
together."
Romney's new television commercial
was an appeal to voters' pocketbooks - and also a rebuttal to Obama's
claim that Romney had a plan to cut taxes by $5 trillion on the wealthy
that would mean higher taxes for the middle class.
"The
president would prefer raising taxes," Romney is shown saying in an
exchange from last week's debate. "I'm not going to raise taxes on
anyone. ... My priority is putting people back to work in America."
Unemployment
and the economy have been the dominant issues in the race for the
presidency, and while Romney gained from the debate, last week's drop in
the jobless rate to 7.8 percent gave Obama a new talking point for the
Democratic claim that his policies are helping the country recover,
however slowly, from the worst recession in decades.
Romney
also sought to lay any abortion-related controversy to rest as he
campaigned across Ohio, a battleground with 18 electoral votes and one
of the places where he has gained ground since last week's debate.
"I
think I've said time and again that I'm a pro-life candidate and I'll
be a pro-life president," he said, renewing his promise to cut off
federal aid for Planned Parenthood and implement a ban on the use of
foreign aid for abortions overseas.
But by the
time he spoke, Obama's aides had already jumped on comments from an
interview with The Des Moines Register in which Romney said "there's no
legislation with regards to abortion that I'm familiar with that would
become part of my agenda."
Stephanie Cutter,
Obama's deputy campaign manager, told reporters on a conference call
that Romney was "cynically and dishonestly" hiding his positions on
women's issues. "We're not saying he's changed his mind on these issues.
We're saying he's trying to cover up his beliefs," she said.
For entirely different reasons, one prominent anti-abortion group agreed that he shouldn't.
As
if to remind Romney of his previous statements on the issue, the head
of the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List distributed an article
he wrote last summer vowing to prohibit federal funding for Planned
Parenthood and to support legislation that would "protect unborn
children who are capable of feeling pain from abortion."
"We
have full confidence that as president, Gov. Romney will stand by the
pro-life commitments," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, the group's
president.
Vice presidential encounters rarely
make a significant difference in a White House campaign, although aides
engage in the same sort of attempt to shape public expectations as when
the men at the top of the ticket are ready to face off.
For
Ryan's camp, that meant whispering that the 42-year-old Wisconsin
congressman and House Budget Committee chairman was comfortable
discussing spending issues and domestic policy, but might not be able to
hold his own on foreign policy, a Biden strong suit.
The
vice president's side let it be known that Ryan is smart and wonky, a
man who knows the budget better than anyone - but it's a version that
omits mention of Biden's nearly four decades of experience in government
and his role as Obama's point man in budget negotiations with
Republicans on an elusive deficit-reduction deal.
Romney's
wife, Ann, took a turn as guest host on ABC's "Good Morning America"
and spoke candidly about experiencing depression after she was diagnosed
with multiple sclerosis 14 years ago. She said horses helped her
recover her mental health.
"I was very, very
weak and very much worried about my life, thinking I was going to be in a
wheelchair as well. Turned to horses, my life has been dramatically
different," she said. "They gave me the energy, the passion to get out
of bed when I was so sick that I didn't think I'd ever want to get out
of bed."
Mrs. Romney is part-owner of a horse
that competed this summer in the Olympic sport of dressage, the equine
equivalent of ballet.
