Barack Obama’s leading campaign advisers yesterday accused Mitt Romney of desperation as they claimed the White House race was moving decisively in the president’s direction with 48 hours to go.
As the two candidates began a final burst of campaigning, opinion polls showed them in a dead heat nationally. But Mr Obama had a slight edge in most of the crucial swing states that will decide the outcome.
Both candidates will make eight campaign stops between them today, flying from morning to night across six of the crucial swing states, following similar cross-country dashes over the weekend.
Mr Obama’s team claimed that Romney’s schedule reflected a sense of desperation, squeezing in a late visit to previously neglected Pennsylvania yesterday in the search for elusive electoral college votes. Mr Obama’s team also cited visits today to Florida and Virginia, two states it said the Romney camp had claimed to have locked up.
In an interview with ABC, David Plouffe, who organised Obama’s re-election bid, expressed confidence the president would be re-elected tomorrow, and seized on a comment by Karl Rove, George Bush’s leading campaign strategist, that Mr Obama had benefited from superstorm Sandy. Democrats are interpreting this as Mr Rove beginning to get his excuses in early.
Another Obama strategist, David Axelrod, commenting on Romney’s Pennsylvania trip, told Fox News: “They understand that they’re in deep trouble. 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.” – (Guardian service)