U.S. President Barack Obama is making a three-state campaign swing on Thursday, after spending several days heading the federal government's response to the massive Atlantic storm named Sandy.
Mr. Obama is campaigning in Wisconsin, Nevada and Colorado, so-called “battleground states” that could determine whether he or Republican challenger Mitt Romney wins the 270 electoral votes needed for victory in next Tuesday's election.
Mr. Romney is making a series of stops in Virginia, another crucial state in the November 6 election.
Both men hammered each other's plans for improving the sluggish U.S. economy, a key issue with voters. Mr. Romney told supporters in Roanoke, Virginia, that middle income Americans had been “squeezed” financially during Mr. Obama's first term in office.
“The median income in America has dropped by $4,300 over the last four years. So now, you're earning 43 hundred dollars a year less than you were four years ago. And gasoline prices, they've gone up $2,000 per family. And health insurance costs, they've gone up $2,500 a family.”
Mr. Obama told supporters in Green Bay, Wisconsin, that Mr. Romney had been touting economic policies favoring the wealthy and that such policies had failed during previous Republican presidential administrations.
“Now in the closing weeks of this campaign, Governor Romney has been using all his talents as a salesman to dress up these very same policies that failed our country so badly. The very same policies that we have been cleaning up after for the past four years. And he is offering them up as change.”
With the election five days away, polls indicate the race is too close to call. A weekly compilation of polling data released Thursday by RealClearPolitics shows a virtual tie.
Public opinion polls are showing a tight race both nationally and in key swing states. A Quinnipiac-New York Times-CBS News poll released Wednesday showed a close race in Florida and Virginia. It also indicated the president is clinging to a lead in Ohio, a state both campaigns desperately want to win.
The president suspended his campaigning Monday as Sandy devastated the coastal area of New Jersey and caused massive damage to New York City. Mr. Romney also spent several days soliciting donations for Sandy's victims.
