President:
Both camps scramble for swing states
LYNCHBURG, Va. — President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney made last- minute pleas for votes Monday, employing their last vestiges of energy, celebrity boosters and plenty of jet fuel to encourage every supporter and the few remaining undecideds to tip the 2012 election in their favor.
National polls on the eve of Election Day showed a neck- and- neck race. But the winner will be determined by which man gets 270 electoral votes, and Obama had more paths to get there.
Ohio looms large in both of their victory
plans— it was the only state both candidates were visiting Monday. And Romney’s campaign announced in the afternoon that the GOP nominee would come back on Election Day for a rally in the Cleveland area. Romney also planned a Tuesday stop in the Pittsburgh area.
The incumbent and the challenger, both fighting weariness and a hoarse voice, closed by arguing they could do more to lead the country out of the tough economic times that dominated Obama’s term. “This nation is going to begin to change for the better tomorrow,” Romney said.
“Our work is not yet done,” Obama told nearly 20,000 people who filled the street in front of the Wisconsin capital building.
Both men campaigned in states they need to win. Romney was in Florida, Virginia and New Hampshire, while Obama was trying to protect Wisconsin from a late- breaking GOP challenge before heading to Iowa.
And in an indication of just how all- important Ohio was once again to the future occupancy of the White House, both candidates planned to be on the ground in Columbus in the evening for dueling rallies several hours and seven miles apart. The state has gone for the winner in every presidential election since 1964.
While Romney added more campaigning for Tuesday, Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the president For questions about ballots or polling places, contact your county registrar’s office: Alameda County, www.acgov.org/ rov, 510- 267- 8683 Contra Costa County, www.cocovote.us, 925- 335- 7800 San Mateo County, www.shapethefuture.org, 650- 3125222 Santa Clara County, www. sccvote. org, 408- 299- 8683 Santa Cruz County, www.votescount.com, 831- 4542060 To report election fraud, call the California Secretary of State Office’s voter hotline: 800- 345- 8683 would stay in Chicago for his election night rally and reach swing- state voters through a series of radio and television interviews.
Both candidates were also hoping to benefit from some star power. Romney planned a final rally in the day’s final hour in New Hampshire with Kid Rock while country rock group The Marshall Tucker Band was joining him in Columbus. Obama had actors Samuel L. Jackson and Chris Rock doing urban radio interviews, “Mad Men” star Jon Hamm making calls in Colorado, rapper Jay- Z joining him in Columbus and rock legend Bruce Springsteen as his traveling warm- up act.
“He promised me a ride on Air Force One,” Springsteen said, strumming his guitar as he made a political pitch between songs.
The rivals planned to appeal to pro football fans in the eleventh hour, taping interviews with ESPN’s Chris Berman that will air during halftime of the Monday Night Football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New Orleans Saints.
Both candidates predicted the winner will be determined by which of their operations can get the most supporters to the polls. “This is going to be a turnout election,” the president declared in an interview broadcast early Monday as he pleaded with urban radio listeners to get to the polls.
Judging from the long early voting lines in some places and the comments made in others, the voters were more than ready to have their say.
“I watch the news all the time, and I am ready for it to be over,” said Jennifer Walker, 38, of Columbus, Ohio, who said she took
BAY AREA NEWS GROUP time off from work to attend the president’s speech during the day in a show of support. “I feel like he is getting better with the economy. I don’t think it’s hopeless. It takes time.”
But Bryan Dobes, 21, a University of Iowa student from suburban Chicago, voted for Romney on Monday and said unemployment and spending have been too high under Obama. “He promised a lot of hope and change, and I’m not seeing it,” he said of the president.
On the edge of an airport runway in Lynchburg, Va., Romney called on his supporters to “make sure we get everyone we know out to vote on Election Day.” “Every single vote,” he said, speaking within view of Liberty University and after its chancellor, Jerry Falwell Jr., rallied the conservative faithful in the crowd.
Obama raised the possibility of defeat as he pleaded with listeners of The Rickey Smiley Morning Show to get to the polls. “If we don’t turn out the vote, we could lose a lot of the gains we’ve already made,” Obama said.
It was one of two of the president’s radio interviews airing Monday aimed at turning out minority voters, the other with a Spanishlanguage station in Ohio. The president is relying on black and Hispanic voters to help offset Romney’s lead with white men in particular, but the risk for him is that some of those key supporters aren’t as motivated to vote as they were in 2008.
“Four years ago, we had incredible turnout, and I know people were excited
KEY SENATE RACES
Maine, where moderate Republican Olympia Snowe is retiring and independent former Gov. Angus King leads a three- way race Massachusetts, where Democrat Elizabeth Warren could unseat Republican Scott Brown Virginia, where Democratic former Gov. Tim Kaine faces Republican former Sen. George Allen Indiana, where Democrat Joe Donnelly is benefiting from Republican Richard Mourdock’s statement that pregnancy resulting from rape is God’s will Missouri, where Sen. Claire McCaskill is considered an endangered Democrat despite rival Todd Akin’s comments about “legitimate rape” and pregnancy Nevada, where Democrat Shelley Berkley could swipe the seat of Republican Dean Heller, who was appointed to the seat of the disgraced John Ensign. and energized about the prospect of making history,” Obama said. “We have to preserve the gains we’ve made and keep moving forward.”
Afinal national NBC/ Wall Street Journal Poll showed Obama getting the support of 48 percent of likely voters, with Romney receiving 47 percent. A Washington Post- ABC News tracking poll had Obama at 49 and Romney at 48. A Pew Research Center poll released Sunday showed Obama with a 3- percentage- point edge over Romney, 48 percent to 45 percent among likely voters.