Obama ahead by few points while Romney exuded confidence

With election looking day looming and a fever pitched campaign blitz unleashed by President Obama and Mitt Romney, we are into a nail-biter –Obama is ahead by a few points according to most predictions while Romney exuded confidence and kept the pressure on.

Most opinion polls have had Obama and Romney in a statistical tie nationally for weeks, but a new survey from the Pew Research Center released Sunday showed the president with a three-point lead over his rival.

His improved standing in the Pew poll -- last week, the candidates were tied at 47 per cent in the same survey -- was apparently fuelled by Obama's widely praised handling of the federal response to mega-storm Sandy. He's now leading Romney 48 to 45 per cent after almost 70 per cent of the Pew respondents, most of them in swing states, gave him high marks on hurricane Sandy.

Battle ground states

Obama also maintains a slight edge in several battleground states that will determine the outcome of Tuesday's vote. Obama’s final rally at midnight in Colorado saw massive crowds. “We are not done yet, the storm may be harsh but Americans are at their best when the going gets tough” Obama said.

Romney also had sizeable crowds at several rallies and he said that Obama has to be judged on his record. Ours would be far better because we know how to create jobs.

Key swing states saw massive crowds attracted by Obama and Bill Clinton as well as Mitt Money. The last ditch Advertizing assault seen in Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Florida, Colorado and Nevada have exceeded all previous outlays in public Ads.

Impassioned stumps speeches

Obama’s signature appeal was "I know I look a little bit older, but I've got a lot of fight left in me." A raspy-voiced Obama in New Hampshire was making a special appealed to independents to judge him on what he inherited and what he delivered.

Former president Bill Clinton was becoming Obama’s greatest asset. He warmed up the crowd of 14,000 by taking repeated shots at Romney, mocking the Republican presidential hopeful's shifting policy positions by saying he'd make a good "chief contortionist at Cirque du Soleil."

Obama, for the most part, took a higher road, appeals to his supporters to keep their eyes on the prize. "If you're willing to work with me, if you're willing to stand with me, if you're willing to knock on some doors with me, if you're willing to make some phone calls with me, if you're willing to turn out for me, we'll win New Hampshire," he said. "We'll win this election."

Romney on Obama’s record

In Iowa, Romney took aim at Obama’s record. "Talk is cheap, but a record is real and it's earned with real effort. You can't measure change in speeches. You measure change in achievements.... Four years ago, the candidate Obama promised us to do an awful lot, he was going to do so much for us, but he failed very short of that."

With two just before actual voting we are seeing a fierce battle for supremacy. Both sides projected an air of confidence on Sunday night. Obama and Romney surrogates were going round all TV talk shows trying to look quite pleased with their campaigns.

Final tally among key states

Seven states, representing 89 Electoral College votes of the 270 needed to win the White House, are considered battlegrounds: Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Virginia, Florida and New Hampshire. Nevada and North Carolina are also in play for both Obama and Romney.

“All these states right now show that president's in a good position to win," Plouffe, senior adviser to Obama said.

Meanwhile, Republican Eric Cantor, a Virginia congressman and the majority leader of the House of Representatives, denied his state would go Democrat, as it did in 2008 for the first time since 1964. "We're going to win this state, and I think we're going to win it a lot bigger than people are predicting," he said.

Ohio is a must win for Romney if he is to get the presidency. Both men were in Ohio on Sunday as a new Columbus Dispatch poll suggested the state was still up for grabs, with Obama ahead by two percentage points.

Other polls have shown Obama with a bigger advantage in Ohio, but both candidates were nonetheless focused on the state, hoping to win over that slim but significant sliver of undecided voters who could seal their electoral fate.

Their 11th-hour campaigning comes after months of each man portraying the other as posing profound risks to the future health and prosperity of the United States.

- Asian Tribune -