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| President Barack Obama, left, casts his vote during early voting in the 2012 election Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012, in Chicago, at the Martin Luther King Community Center. |
CINCINNATI (AP) -- President Barack Obama, seeking to shore up support among women, intensified his pressure Thursday on Mitt Romney to break any ties with a Republican Senate candidate who said that if a woman becomes pregnant from rape it is "something God intended." Romney ignored the emotional social issue, holding to an optimistic campaign tone as he fought for victory in crucial Ohio.
Obama, wrapping up a
40-hour battleground state blitz, also headed to his hometown of Chicago
and cast his ballot 12 days before Election Day. The stopover was more
than a photo opportunity - it was a high-profile attempt to boost
turnout in early voting, a centerpiece of Obama's strategy.
The
2012 presidential contest was expected to cross the $2 billion
fundraising mark Thursday, putting the election on track to be the
costliest in history. It's being fueled by a campaign finance system
vastly altered by the proliferation of "super" political action
committees that are bankrolling TV ads in closely contested states.
Back
on the campaign trail, the president made repeated, though indirect,
references to Indiana Republican Richard Mourdock's controversial
comment on rape and pregnancy.
"We've seen
again this week, I don't think any male politicians should be making
health care decisions for women," Obama told a crowd of about 15,000 on
an unseasonably warm fall day in Richmond, Va. The president's aides
pressed further, using a web video to highlight Romney's endorsement of
Mourdock and to accuse the GOP nominee of kowtowing to his party's
extreme elements.
Romney, who appears in a
television advertisement declaring his support for Mourdock, brushed
aside questions on the matter from reporters throughout the day. He
centered his efforts instead on turning his campaign's claims of
momentum into a more practical - and ultimately necessary - roadmap to
winning the required 270 Electoral College votes. Ohio is crucial to
that effort.
"This election is not about me,"
Romney told a 3,000-person crowd at a southern Ohio manufacturing
company. "It's not about the Republican Party. It's about America. And
it's about your family."
Romney has disavowed
Mourdock's comments, but his campaign says he continues to support the
Indiana Republican's Senate candidacy.
Less than two weeks from Election Day, both candidates feverishly campaigned across the country in an exceedingly close race.
Opinion
polls show Obama and Romney tied nationally. A new Associated Press-GfK
poll of likely voters had Romney up 47 percent to 45 percent, a result
within the poll's margin of sampling error. But the race will really be
decided by nine or so competitive states: Ohio, Florida, Virginia, North
Carolina, New Hampshire,
Iowa, Wisconsin, Nevada and Colorado.
The urgent task for both campaigns is to cobble together wins in enough states to cross the 270 threshold.
Obama
advisers have identified at least three viable options. Winning Ohio,
Iowa and Wisconsin would put him over the top, as would winning Ohio,
Iowa and Nevada. A five-state combination of Iowa, New
Hampshire,
Wisconsin, Nevada and Colorado would also seal the deal for the
president's re-election.
Romney's team has yet
to publicly outline any specific pathways to 270. Without a win in
Ohio, however, the Republican nominee would have to sweep every other
competitive state.
That reality was the
motivation behind Romney's daylong swing through three Ohio cities
Thursday. Obama was to finish his day in Ohio, too, the final stop on
his marathon, two-day drive for votes.
An
upbeat Romney proclaimed his campaign had the momentum heading into
Election Day. But there were signs in Ohio, as well as Virginia, that
his surge following the first debate might have run its course.
In
Ohio, internal Republican and Democratic campaign polls this week
showed Obama with a lead, just outside the margin of sampling error.
The
race in Virginia remains close. Romney has established a slim lead, but
the shift toward him seen during the three weeks of debates has slowed
or stopped, internal polls from both parties showed.
Romney
is hoping to boost his electoral prospects in part by cutting into
Obama's long-standing advantage with women. The AP-GfK poll suggested
that effort was bearing fruit, with Romney erasing the president's
16-point advantage among female likely voters.
Obama
advisers insist they've lost no ground with women. But their eagerness
to highlight Romney's connections to Mourdock indicated some degree of
nervousness within the campaign.
Romney's
campaign reached out to female voters Thursday by sending Ann Romney on
daytime's "Rachael Ray" show, where she prepared her meatloaf cakes
recipe and took cameras along on a trip to Costco to shop in bulk for
family gatherings. Mrs. Romney said that, with 30 mouths to feed, her
family always eats buffet-style and that "Mitt is often at the front of
the line."
While the campaigns speed ahead,
about 7.2 million people already have cast early ballots, either by mail
or in person, according to the United States Elections Project at
George Mason University. In all, about 35 percent of the electorate is
expected to vote before Election Day. That would be a small increase
over 2008.
"I'm told I'll be the first sitting
president to take advantage of early voting," Obama said in an email to
supporters, urging them to cast their votes before Nov. 6.
As
the campaign enters its final days, both sides are focused on winning
the increasingly narrow sliver of undecided voters. Obama made a
personal appeal to late-deciding voters Wednesday in a conference call
from Air Force One. His campaign is also mailing undecided voters copies
of a new 20-page booklet featuring Obama's second-term agenda, a
collection of policies that have been previously introduced.
The
president's campaign also trumpeted the endorsement by former Secretary
of State Colin Powell, a Republican who supported Obama in 2008. Powell
praised Obama's handling of the economic recovery, telling "CBS This
Morning," `'I think we've begun to come out of the dive and we're
gaining altitude."
Elsewhere Thursday, GOP
vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan showered attention on Virginia,
telling voters in Appalachian coal country that winning a close race
won't be enough for the GOP ticket.
"The worst
thing that could happen is President Obama gets re-elected and we have
more of the same with a debt crisis," Ryan said. "The second worst thing
that could happen is we get elected by default, without a mandate."
Vice President Joe Biden took time off the campaign trail to attend a prayer service for former Democratic Sen. George McGovern.
Obama,
Romney and their running mates plan to spend nearly every day leading
up to the Nov. 6 election pitching for votes in battleground states.
Romney
is spending more time in Ohio Friday, and he also has a stop scheduled
in Iowa. He is to campaign in Florida and Virginia over the weekend.
The
president is making a rare trip to New Hampshire on Saturday. Then he
plans to join former President Bill Clinton for a three-state swing
Monday through Florida, Ohio and Virginia.
