Posted on 10/20/2012 1:34:49 PM PDT by Red Steel
Anxious to find the right combination of states to win the Electoral College, Mitt Romneys campaign pushed Saturday into battlegrounds it had largely avoided.
The Republicans forged into the swing states of Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, which the GOP had previously appeared resigned to ceding to President Obama.
Paul Ryan, Romneys running mate, ripped Obamas energy policy to a crowd at the Pittsburgh International Airport.
"Gas prices are more than double what they were four years ago - who knows what they're going to be if he got four more years," Ryan said. "Not only are these policies wrong, they...cost us jobs.
The GOP also bought ad time on Boston television stations, which broadcast into the state directly north.
Though New Hampshire only awards four electoral votes, its importance is magnified if Romney cant win Ohio. A loss in the Buckeye State, where Obama holds a slight lead over Romney, would mean the Republican would need to almost sweep the remaining swing states.
Obama is making his own push into those battlegrounds, announcing that he will launch a two-day, around the clock campaign blitz across six states starting Tuesday.
Air Force One will cover thousands of miles as the President holds events in Iowa, Colorado, Nevada, Florida, Virginia and Ohio - and makes a stop in Chicago to cast his own ballot early.
Both Obama and Romney remained holed up Saturday preparing for their last debate, to be held Monday on foreign policy.
They will square off in Florida, where Vice President Biden rallied supporters Saturday.
With you, we can take Florida, Biden said in St. Augustine. If we take Florida, this election is over."
Biden also again touted his campaigns new rallying cry - that Romney changes positions so much that he must suffer from chronic Romnesia.
PPP Polls has Obama up 1 in Ohio in a +9 Dem sample. In 2008 Ohio was about +5 Dem.
Funny looking at your posting history, nice to see you that showed up during this year..
Our local TV stations broadcast into NH and I have seen zero ads for Romney. Not even one.
I’ll be interested to see if that changes over then next 2 weeks.
I agree these D+9 polls make no sense. I imagine Gallup has Romney ahead there now, if they’ve taken a poll there recently, because their national poll has him leading outside the margin of error.
People are going to worry about Ohio down to election day. The trend is our friend, though.
Stupid remark.
God help America if that happens.
Mitt’s people are spending all that money in the Boston market. Your TV market in Vermont only hits the western part of NH, which as you know, is the most liberal part of the state. Better bang for the buck in the Boston market which hits the most GOP part of the state.
As I said, I hope you’re right.
I lost the URL that checks posting history. Could you FReepmail me that?
Gallup has Romney 51 to Obama 45. On 10-20-08 it had Obama 51 to McCain 44.
The trend for Mitt is very solid right now, and that’s a big deal. I’m not thrilled with going into Penn, but the Romney team is smart & their internal polls must be showing a REAL shift there otherwise I doubt they would go there.
Romney’s been campaigning in NH for six years. He announced his frigging campaign there (both times, I believe).
See, there's your mistake. Pollsters predict the future based on the future intent of people who haven't acted.
I'm a historian. I predict the future based on evidence of things that have already occurred. What evidence do we have? Polls are not evidence of what has happened or even what will happen. They are badly flawed manipulative tools to tell whatever story someone wants to tell.
On the other hand, we have REAL absentee ballot requests to compare with 08. We have REAL 08 numbers and REAL 2012 numbers. We have REAL early voting numbers.
In all the REAL evidence we have, the Ds are massively down from 08, the Rs are substantially up. The Ds are nowhere here what they need to win OH.
So, the poster is right. I think this is beyond Bush's 04 numbers in OH, probably around a 200,000 R victory.
You got a link to that?
The Susquehanna Poll showing Romney leading +4 has a D+6. That's simply not realistic in the Commonwealth. If we could get to an enthusiasm gap like 2010, Romney would win (Toomey won by 1% I believe, I can't recall Corbett's number in the gubernatorial.) But we aren't going to get there. It will be MUCH closer than 2008, but I think it's a waste of time unless R/R have some internals with D+8 or D+9 that show them something we don't know about. Even so, if R/R has PA, they also have WI, IA and CO, and they probably also have OH, in which case spending money in PA still doesn't make sense.
PA is in reach. PA is ground zero for the 'clean-coal' and 'fracking gas' vote and it is fastly becoming a big issue, and unemployment in PA was bad in 2008 but is much worse now.
There are, however, 500,000+ Obama votes in Philadelphia, and I don't know what happens there. Even if Philly voters identify with Obama, I'm not sure they'll be willing to stand in line for an hour this time.
Good post. I agree. Penn is such a tease, but in the end it’s always just out of reach for the national GOP. Perhaps Mitt’s people will hit the areas in Penn near the Ohio market with ads & kill 2 birds with one stone. IDK.
I think it's fair to say that they're swinging toward him, though.
Seriously? What benefit do you think it has fors him to waste resources? If he’s there it means they think he can win it.
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