DAWN BREAKS, OBAMA STILL HUNTING FOR VOTES
No Republican has been elected president without the rust belt battleground-- and planned three events in the state
TAMPA, Florida, Oct 25, 2012 (AFP) - US President Barack Obama set out to block Mitt Romney's road to the White House Thursday as the sun rose on the second day of a non-stop 40 hour blitz of states that will decide the election.
Obama landed in balmy Florida before dawn after a crosscountry flight across three time zones, following a late night rally in Las Vegas and a trip into the bowels of Sin City's plush Bellagio casino hotel to rally union workers.
The president had three events planned in Florida, Virginia and Ohio, and if he can win just one of those three key swing states, he could all but assure himself of another four years in the White House.
Recent polls have shown Romney may be up slightly in Florida and Virginia, which Obama, in 2008, was the first Democrat to win since 1964, but the president appears to have a consistent edge in Ohio.
Republican Romney knows the stakes in Ohio --no Republican has been elected president without the rust belt battleground-and planned three events in the state on Thursday.
Romney was also on the trail in the battleground states Wednes- day, appearing in Reno, Nevada and Iowa, again seeking to build an impression that his recent polling surge can be sustained in the final days of the campaign.
But Romney again saw his hopes of leveling a devastating attack on the president's economic record frustrated by another row over the Republican Party's attitude to women's health issues and abortion..