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| Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns at Carter Machinery in Abingdon, Va., Friday, Oct. 5, 2012 |
FISHERSVILLE, Va.
(AP) -- The presidential race enters its final month enlivened by
two events with the potential to reshape the contest or perhaps negate
each other. Soon after Mitt Romney's strong debate performance came
Friday's encouraging economic news, not a minute too soon for President
Barack Obama.
Strategists say the race is
tightening, which was largely expected even before Obama's flat
appearance on the debate stage Wednesday night, when his Republican
challenger had arguably the best 90 minutes of his candidacy thus far.
Republican
volunteers and strategists in the nine most competitive states are
encouraged as never before, saying Romney is squarely back in a contest
that was threatening to slip away.
Thirty-six
hours later after the candidates' first face-to-face meeting, however,
Obama crossed a huge psychological barrier. The government reported that
unemployment fell to 7.8 percent in September, down from 8.1 percent.
It was the first time since the opening days of Obama's presidency in
2009 that the rate dipped below 8 percent.
Now,
with one month left until the Nov. 6 election and millions of people
already voting, the question is whether Romney can spin his 90 minutes
of debate gold into a path toward a four-year presidency.
The
trick for Romney is to translate an often wonky, hard-to-follow debate,
viewed by an estimated 67.2 million people, into the type of
on-the-ground actions and momentum that eluded him during summertime
stumbles over the London Olympics, Libya and the 47 percent of Americans
who don't owe federal income taxes.
Strategists
in both parties say Romney is likely to gain in polls. But many
question whether he can close the gaps that Obama seems to have opened
in Ohio and elsewhere.
Presidential debates
"are not as important as they used to be," largely because voters have
so many other sources of information and opinion, said Paul Shumaker, a
Republican strategist in North Carolina, one of the most contested
states. "Romney performed beyond expectations," Shumaker said, but it
may be hard to sustain the lift.
"The problem going into the next debate" on Oct. 16, he said, is that Romney "has raised the bar very high for himself."
Will Weatherford, a Republican who soon will be speaker of the Florida House, was more optimistic after the Denver debate.
"My initial reaction is, it's a game-changer," Weatherford said. "The mystique of President Obama is gone."
Former
Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dick Wadhams said the first of this
year's three debates may have saved Romney's campaign.
"Before
the debate, he was very close to losing this election," Wadhams said. A
sliver of undecided voters wants to oppose Obama, he said, but until
Wednesday, Romney had not closed the deal. "I think he's back in the
game," Wadhams said.
Obama seized onto
Friday's jobs report like a tired swimmer grabbing a raft, using it to
deflect chatter about his disappointing debate performance. "We are
moving forward again," he told a Virginia crowd.
Romney
said 7.8 percent unemployment "is not what a real recovery looks like."
Obama accused him of trying "to try to talk down the economy to score a
few political points."
The Republican used
the debate afterglow to take a second stab at softening the damage done
from secretly recorded remarks in which he said 47 percent of Americans
consider themselves victims dependent on government aid.
"I
said something that's just completely wrong," Romney told Fox News. "I
care about 100 percent, and that's been demonstrated throughout my
life."
If nothing else, Romney's solid debate performance netted him more time to make his case to undecided voters.
"Hope was restored in 90 minutes," said Steve Schmidt, campaign manager for 2008 GOP nominee John McCain.
Many
activists wish it had come sooner. Obama's experienced voter-turnout
operation already is marching supporters by the thousands to early
polling sites in Iowa, North Carolina and Ohio, the most fiercely
contested state of all.
If the election were
today, Obama probably would carry Ohio, making Romney's path to the 270
needed electoral votes extremely narrow. Public and internal polls show
Obama ahead by 5 to 8 percentage points.
Romney's
campaign on Friday began airing an ad, "Ohio Jobs," in which Romney
speaks directly to the camera. Democrats hope Friday's jobs report will
make the ad sound off-message to many Ohioans.
In
Virginia, a traditionally Republican state until Obama won it four
years ago, the race is tighter, although the president is seen with the
advantage. After the debate, Romney went straight to Virginia, where he
and running mate Paul Ryan headlined a rally in the state's
conservative west.
There was anecdotal evidence in some states that Romney's debate job was bringing in new donations and volunteers.
"I've
been in Daytona, Flagler County and St. John's County, and all over,
people are asking for signs, asking for bumper stickers, some of them
are even asking where they can send money," said Florida state Sen. John
Thrasher, a former state GOP chairman. "The energy level is fantastic."
In Nevada, where Romney has not led in any publicly released poll, new volunteers showed up at GOP offices.
Gustavo Guadamud, 31, had planned to vote for Romney, but after watching the debate he decided it was time to do more.
"A
lot of people thought that he doesn't have what it takes," Guadamud
said. "But every time President Obama was replying, he looked him right
in the eye."
Guadamud, a web designer, had
intended to leave a small donation at the Romney office and pick up a
bumper sticker. He ended up phoning registered voters for two hours.
