Americas

Home page

Americas

Obama, Romney pursue last votes in close race

05 November 2012 21:01 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney made their last stands of the 2012 campaign Monday, employing their last vestiges of energy, celebrity boosters and plenty of jet fuel to encourage every supporter and the few remaining undecideds to tip the vote in their favor, APA reports quoting Associated Press.
National polls of the eve of Election Day showed a neck-and-neck race. But the winner will be determined by which man gets 270 electoral votes, and Obama had more paths to get there.
The incumbent and the challenger, both fighting weariness and speaking in voices that have turned hoarse, closed by arguing they could do more to lead the country out of the tough economic times that dominated Obama’s term. "This nation is going to begin to change for the better tomorrow," Romney said.
"Our work is not yet done," Obama told nearly 20,000 people who filled the street in front of the Wisconsin capital building.
Both men campaigned in states they need to win. Romney was in Florida, Virginia, and New Hampshire, while Obama was trying to protect Wisconsin from a late-breaking GOP challenge before heading to Iowa.
And in an indication of just how all-important Ohio was once again to the future occupancy of the White House, both candidates planned to be on the ground in Columbus in the evening for dueling rallies several hours and seven miles apart. The state has gone for the winner in every presidential election since 1964.
Republican campaign officials said Romney was considering a possible return to Ohio on Tuesday. Without the state, he has to win nearly every other battleground state to defeat Obama.
Both candidates were also hoping to benefit from some star power. Romney planned a final rally in the day’s final hour in New Hampshire with Kid Rock while country rock performers The Marshall Tucker Band was joining him in Columbus. Obama had actors Samuel L. Jackson and Chris Rock doing urban radio interviews, "Mad Men" star Jon Hamm making calls in Colorado, rapper Jay-Z joining him in Columbus and rock legend Bruce Springsteen as his traveling warm-up act.
"He promised me a ride on Air Force One," Springsteen said, strumming his guitar as he made a political pitch between songs.
The rivals planned to appeal to pro football fans in the eleventh hour, taping interviews with ESPN’s Chris Berman that will air during halftime of the Monday Night Football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New Orleans Saints