|
|
|
|
All News & Blogs
E-mail Alerts
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (left) greets supporters at a rally in Reno, Nev., on Wednesday. President Barack Obama shakes hands with a supporter after a campaign event in Davenport, Iowa.ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place |
Date published: 10/25/2012
Associated Press
DAVENPORT, Iowa
--President Barack Obama is confidently predicting speedy second-term agreement with Republicans to reduce federal deficits and overhaul immigration laws, commenting before setting out Wednesday on a 40-hour campaign marathon through battleground states that could decide whether he'll get the chance. Republican Mitt Romney looked to the Midwest for a breakthrough in a close race shadowed by a weak economy.Romney declared, "We're going to get this economy cooking again," addressing a boisterous crowd in Reno, Nev., before flying back eastward to tend to his prospects in Ohio and Iowa. Romney urged audience members to consider their personal circumstances, and he said the outcome of the Nov. 6 election "will make a difference for the nation, will make a difference for the families of the nation and will make a difference for your family, individually and specifically."
With 13 days until Election Day, opinion polls depicted a close race nationally. Romney's campaign claims momentum as well as the lead in Florida and North Carolina, two battleground states with a combined 44 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win. Obama's aides insist the president is ahead or tied with his rival in both of those states and in the other seven decisive battlegrounds.
Not even Obama, in an interview with radio host Tom Joyner, predicted that fellow Democrats would win control of the House from Republicans, who are looking to renew a majority they won two years ago in a landslide triggered by the tea party.
The Democrats and Republicans are struggling uncertainly for control of the Senate. And for the second time, a hard-fought Senate campaign was jolted by a dispute over abortion, in this case a statement by Republican Richard Mourdock of Indiana that when a woman becomes pregnant by rape, "that's something God intended" and there should be no abortion allowed.
Romney said he disagreed with the remarks. However, unlike an earlier abortion-related controversy involving Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri, Romney did not disavow his support for Mourdock, who is locked in a close race with Rep. Joe Donnelly, his Democratic opponent.
The president's major focus was his coast-to-coast-and-back-again tour.