Axelrod: 'They're in deep trouble'

David Axelrod, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama's reelection campaign, dismissed on Sunday the notion that Mitt Romney is making Pennsylvania competitive as the GOP presidential nominee heads there later in the day. 

"They understand that they're in deep trouble," Axelrod said on "Fox News Sunday." "They've tried to expand the map because they know in states like Ohio… they're behind and they're not catching up at this point."

Axelrod argued that Romney's trips to Florida and Virginia are signs that they haven't locked up states where the Republican should be performing well.

"They understand that the traditional, or the battleground, states that we've been focusing are not working out for them," Axelrod said. "Now they're looking for somewhere, desperately looking for somewhere." 

Via: Politico

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3 DAYS TO WIN BATTLEGROUNDS Candidates Bank on Voter Turn Out

Mitt Romney and President Obama blazed across the country Saturday, hitting key battleground states where both candidates vowed partisan compromise if elected and urged supporters to help them win over the remaining undecided voters.

The promises for compromise in Washington were an attempt to appeal to Independent voters who could swing the tight race now in its final three days.

“I need you to reach across the lawn to the neighbor with the other (campaign) sign,” Romney said at a rally in Colorado, his third of four Saturday. “I’ve got to reach across the aisle. Walk with me. We can do this.”

 Romney began the day with an outdoor rally in New Hampshire, then made a stop in Iowa before attending the rally in Colorado Spring. His finally rally of the day will be in Englewood, Colo.

President Obama made similar arguments during his stops -- Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, then Virginia in the evening.

The president told the crowd in Ohio: "I'll work with any party to make this country move forward. If you want to break the gridlock of Congress, vote for me."

He also took a jab at what he sees as the Romney plan for White House-Capitol Hill compromises -- agreements to cut  funding to Planned Parenthood, health care and student financial aid.

"I’m not going to have that," the president said inside a school gymnasium in Mentor, Ohio. "That's not bipartisanship. … Knock on some doors with me, make some calls for me."

In Wisconsin, the president delivered similar remarks but added some star power -- singer Katy Perry, who wore a shiny blue mini dress with the word “Forward” across the top and sang into a microphone that looked like the Statue of Liberty torch.

In Iowa, the president referred to the fatal, devastating superstorm Sandy to make his point about working together.

“We are in this together,” he said in Dubuque, Iowa. “We will rise and fall as one nation.”

The president began the day with an early-morning meeting at the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters to discuss relief efforts for the Sandy victims.

Via: Fox News

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The Washington Times: The President’s Popularity Bubble Has Burst

Mitt Romney continues his surge in the polls two weeks after the first presidential debate. Democrats keep waiting for Barack Obama’s free-fall to stop, but the polling is looking less like a fleeting bounce than a strong market correction.

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Bounces are temporary. What goes up comes down. They are the products of momentary enthusiasm, like the national-convention spike enjoyed by both sides. Mr. Romney’s rise since the Oct. 3 debate has been more durable. It’s more like what happens when artificially inflated prices dramatically change course. In this case, the Obama bubble — which had been gathering steam the previous weeks — suddenly and dramatically burst.

President Obama remains in a state of denial and maintains electoral prosperity is just around the corner. “What’s important is the fundamentals of what this race is about haven’t changed,” he chirped last week. To the contrary, the fundamentals are driving his numbers down. Economic growth is shrinking. Jobs are scarce. Mr. Obama has amassed two times the federal debt in one term that President George W. Bush did in two terms. These are the inconvenient truths that have driven the correction in the polls. Mr. Romney’s debate performance was the catalyst for Mr. Obama’s collapse, but the ruinous economic reality has kept the Democrat’s downslide going.

The Obama contraction has been most dramatic in battleground states. Three weeks ago, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said, “There are two different campaigns, one in the battlegrounds and one everywhere else. That’s why the national polls aren’t relevant to this campaign.” At the time, the political operative might have had a point. Many poll-aggregation sites showed a steady state-by-state run-up for Mr. Obama. Those charts now show dramatic contractions, wiping out months of gains overnight. It’s a classic correction curve.

Via: The Washington Times

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POLITICO: ROMNEY UP 4 IN 'TOSS UP' STATES

This week, Politico released its latest Battleground poll of the presidential race. Despite coming from the left-wing news site, the poll is one of my favorites. Its put together by respected pollsters from both parties, makes available its full cross-tabs and uses a very modest and reasonable turnout model for its sample. Including leaners, the sample in the poll is D+2. Nationally, Obama leads by 2-3 points, but, in the critical swing states, Romney now has the edge.

Each candidate leads in states considered "safe" for their party. In safe GOP states, Romney leads by 8. In safe Democrat states, Obama leads by a massive 22 points. But, in the more numerous and more important "toss up" states, Romney leads by 4, hitting the critical 50% threshold. 

In the slightly different category of "battleground" states identified by Politico, Romney leads by 2, 49-47. Romney's lead over Obama is powered primarily by his edge with independents. Romney leads Obama by 4 among the important swing voters. By 11 points, these voters think Romney would do better on the economy than Obama, 51-40. 

Romney also has a big edge with middle class families, who prefer him over Obama by 15 points, 56-41. 

The media has anxiously portrayed tonight's debate as a critical moment for Romney to propel his campaign into the final stretch. They have built their analysis around the false narrative that Romney is losing ground against Obama. The Politico poll, however, shows that it is Obama who is losing ground in the campaign. The President needs a knock-out punch tonight.

Via: Breitbart Continue Reading...

With Start of Early Voting, Election Day Becomes Election Month

DES MOINES – As eight bells rang from the clock tower of the Polk County Courthouse, the doors to the election office opened on Thursday morning and voters began casting the first ballots of the presidential race in this battleground state.

“It seems like we’ve been waiting for this day for a long time,” said Nancy Bobo, 60, who stood in line and voted for President Obama. “I’m just thrilled to get out here and vote as soon as I possibly could.”

Less than a week before the president’s first debate with Mitt Romney and a month before the closing arguments of a campaign traditionally would be made, a steady stream of voters walked into election offices across the state to cast their ballots. They will be joined by voters in Ohio next week, along with 30 states where some type of voting is already under way.

For millions of Americans, the election no longer is a fixed date on the November calendar. It is increasingly becoming an item on the fall checklist, a civic duty steeped in the convenience of everyday life. The development is profoundly influencing presidential races, with Election Day becoming Election Month for as much as 40 percent of the electorate this year.

The number of people casting early ballots nationally climbed to 31 percent in 2008 from 23 percent in 2004, according to Michael McDonald, who studies early voting at George Mason University. This year, party strategists estimate that up to 40 percent of voters will cast ballots before Nov. 6, but the proportion is even higher in many battleground states.

Via: NYT

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