Obama, Mitt go for jugular

PRESIDENT Barack Obama and rival Mitt Romney have stoked the embers of their smouldering debate, flinging new blows in the hotly contested territory that will decide who wins the White House.

Twenty days from election day, and with the political world reverberating from one of the most contentious presidential debates in history, the two men charged on to the campaign trail in search of women voters and independents who could propel them to victory.

Mr Obama accused Mr Romney of offering a ‘‘sketchy deal’’ by failing to explain how he would pay for big tax and deficit cuts, warning that politicians who waited to get elected before giving specifics gave voters a nasty surprise.

‘‘We’re not buying it,’’ Mr Obama told a crowd in Ohio, one of the grand battleground states.

‘‘We know better, because this is the same sketchy deal we were sold back in the previous administration.’’

The 51- year- old Mr Obama, in a tongue-incheek aside, admitted his intense debate showing was a big improvement on a listless performance in the first showdown.

Mr Romney, a multimillionaire ex-governor of Massachusetts, also professed to being pumped up after the clash, in which the two men went toe to toe and roamed the stage, at times seeming to stop just short of a physical confrontation.

Mr Romney blasted Mr Obama as a slick salesman who talked a good game four years ago but has left the country in dire shape.

‘‘The President’s policies are running on fumes,’’ he boomed to more than 8000 people at a rally in Virginia.