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| President Barack Obama hugs a supporter at Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus, Ohio, as he arrives for a campaign stop at The Ohio State University Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012. |
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- It's still all about Ohio.
After
a strong debate performance, Republican challenger Mitt Romney is
intensifying his efforts in the state that's critical to his White House
hopes, while President Barack Obama works to hang on to the polling
edge he's had here for weeks.
Both candidates
campaigned hard in the state Tuesday, the last day of voter registration
ahead of Election Day, now just four weeks away.
"Find
at least one person who voted for Barack Obama last time and convince
them to come join our team," Romney told voters in Van Meter, Iowa,
before hurrying eastward to make a similar pitch in Ohio, where he was
campaigning with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Obama,
in Columbus, called out, "All right, Buckeyes, we need you." His
campaign had buses nearby, ready to ferry students or other supporters
to registration centers.
As Obama wooed Ohio
State University students here and Romney focused on the Democratic
bastion of Cuyahoga County to the north, there were signs the
president's Ohio advantage was narrowing. A new CNN poll showed Obama
leading Romney 51 percent to 47 percent among likely Ohio voters. And
Republican strategists familiar with Romney's internal polling contended
the race was even closer - within a single percentage point - as the
candidate enjoyed a post-debate surge of support.
"I promise you he's back in the game in Ohio," said Charlie Black, an informal Romney campaign adviser.
Like
other Republicans, he credits Romney's strong debate appearance last
week as the reason for an uptick in national polling. And Romney
advisers maintain they're seeing evidence of that in the battleground
states most likely to decide the election, Ohio among them.
"There
isn't any question that he has breathed new life and new energy into
the Republican Party," Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Tuesday on a
conference call with reporters. "We're seeing that there is greater
intensity among Republicans and a great willingness to get out and vote
and participate than we're seeing with Democrats."
With
a hefty 18 electoral votes, Ohio is such a key state for Romney that
one top adviser has dubbed it "the ball game" as the Republican looks to
string together enough state victories to amass the 270 Electoral
College votes needed to take the White House. No Republican has won the
presidency without this Midwestern state, and if Romney were to lose
here, he would have to carry every other battleground state except tiny
New Hampshire.
Romney has far fewer
state-by-state paths to the White House than Obama, who still has
several routes to victory should he lose here.
Given
the stakes and with just 28 days left in the campaign, Romney's
schedule highlights his increased focus on the state: He's spending four
of the next five days in Ohio, ahead of the second presidential debate
in New York next Tuesday. Running mate Paul Ryan squares off against
Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday for the sole debate featuring the
No. 2's on the tickets.
Obama was being
greeted in Columbus - for a rally at Ohio State University - by enormous
letters that spelled out "vote early," a plea to the young voters who
buoyed the president's bid in 2008. He arrived from the West Coast,
where he had been raising millions of dollars for the campaign.
Obama
campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki dismissed the impact of polls showing a
tighter race, saying Democrats always expected the race here and
elsewhere to tighten ahead of Election Day.
"We have blinders on," she told reporters traveling on Air Force One. "We're implementing our own game plan."
Illustrating the competitive nature of Ohio, no presidential battleground has been more saturated with television advertising.
The
campaigns and outside groups had spent more than $141 million on TV ads
in Ohio through the beginning of October, one of the highest per-person
spending rates in the country. Only more-populous Florida, which has
seen $150 million in ad spending, has seen a higher total.
Ads
in Ohio have focused on the energy industry - some rural, southern
areas of the state rely heavily on coal - and on China, where foreign
companies are seen as competing with Ohio's manufacturing base and
jeopardizing jobs.
Obama has sought to paint
Romney as a plutocrat who outsourced jobs during his tenure leading the
private equity firm Bain Capital.
Romney, in
turn, has sharply criticized Obama's support for stricter regulations on
coal and natural gas. It's seen as a way in with white working-class
voters, on which his candidacy depends. "Stop the War on Coal.
Fire
Obama," read signs that dot the countryside of areas where Romney has
held multiple events.
White blue-collar
workers prefer Romney to Obama, but less so than they did Republican
George W. Bush, who carried Ohio in 2004. These voters are considered
still persuadable, although Romney may have hurt himself with his
comment that the 47 percent of Americans who pay no income tax believe
they are victims entitled to government help.
Romney's
position on the auto bailout also dogs him in a state that's heavily
reliant on the industry. Obama's decision to offer government support to
automakers meant protection for thousands of jobs at parts and supply
companies in Ohio.
Romney wrote a 2008 op-ed
headlined "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt," which has become a rallying cry for
Democrats. They have argued Obama's support for the bailout has had a
hand in Ohio's drop in unemployment, which is now lower than the
national average.
In the final weeks, both
campaigns insist they have the edge in the critical ground game. That
battle was playing out in the courts, as well, with Ohio's election
chief saying Tuesday he will appeal a ruling that reinstates the final
three early voting days in the state.
Ohio
Secretary of State Jon Husted called a decision last week by a federal
appeals court "an unprecedented intrusion" into how states run
elections.
Husted said Friday's decision by
the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals would affect how elections are run
in all 50 states. The appeals court in Cincinnati affirmed a lower
court ruling and returned discretion to set hours on the final three
days to local boards of elections.
