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After Storm Hiatus, Presidential Race Is Back in Full Swing After Storm Hiatus, Presidential Race Is Back in Full Swing
(about 2 hours later)
WASHINGTON — President Obama returned to the campaign trail with gusto on Thursday, holding rallies in three states even as his campaign releases a new television ad featuring effusive praise from former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. WASHINGTON — The two presidential campaigns roared back to life on Thursday, ending a storm-imposed hiatus with urgent closing arguments and a flurry of cross-country rallies as Mitt Romney raced to overtake President Obama in the election’s final 100 hours.
The ad, which will run in 10 states during the final days of the campaign, underscores Mr. Obama’s closing message by showing Mr. Powell, a Republican, declaring that “we ought to keep on the track that we are on.” Mr. Obama enters the last stretch with a slight and consistent — but in some cases, shrinking — edge over Mr. Romney, his Republican rival, in public polling from most of the 10 states where the campaigns are waging fierce and costly battles with television ads and armies of loyal supporters.
Mr. Obama’s return to the trail comes after a day that produced remarkable images of cooperation between the president and one of his harshest critics, Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey. The two men toured the state’s storm-ravaged coast, declaring themselves partners in the recovery efforts. But Mr. Romney’s withering, yearlong critique of the president’s economic stewardship has brought him to a virtual tie in national surveys. His campaign hopes that continued attacks combined with a renewed, bipartisan appeal to moderate and independent voters will help him overcome the president’s state-by-state organization.
The trip to New Jersey capped a four-day hiatus from campaigning for Mr. Obama, who canceled events across battleground states as Hurricane Sandy first barreled toward the coast and then came ashore as a massive storm on Monday. On Thursday, the president is campaigning in Wisconsin, Nevada and Colorado. Both sides are bracing for Friday morning’s update by the federal government of the unemployment rate, a final piece of economic evidence that could either bolster Mr. Romney’s accusations of fiscal malpractice or provide further ammunition for the president’s case that the country’s struggling economy is finally headed in the right direction.
Aides to the president said Mr. Obama would use the final days of campaigning to deliver his closing argument. A spokesman for the campaign said the president would focus on the need to “reclaim” middle-class security after a decade of policies that have “undercut” the lives of many Americans. After avoiding attacks on Mr. Obama for 72 hours because of the storm, Mr. Romney plunged back into the fray in Roanoke, Va., mocking the president for proposing the creation of a cabinet-level post devoted to business development. Mr. Obama discussed the idea during an interview with MSNBC that was broadcast on Monday, just as Mr. Romney was withdrawing from electioneering.
“Even though this is President Obama’s last campaign, he’s fighting for the same things he’s always believed and run on — that this country cannot succeed without a growing, thriving middle class,” said Adam Fetcher, a spokesman for Mr. Obama’s campaign. “I don’t think adding a new chair in his cabinet will help add millions of jobs on Main Street,” Mr. Romney said to an enthusiastic crowd Thursday morning at a family-owned factory. “We don’t need a secretary of business to understand business. We need a president who understands business and I do.”
Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate for president, campaigned Thursday in Virginia, holding rallies in reliably conservative parts of the state that he must win to offset the president’s strength in the suburbs outside of Washington D.C. Mr. Romney’s campaign unveiled a new ad echoing those remarks and saying that the president’s “answer to everything” is simply adding another government bureaucrat. But at his rally, Mr. Romney also played down his own record as a businessman, focusing instead on how he would govern with the support of Democrats and independents should he win on Tuesday.
After avoiding attacks on Mr. Obama for 72 hours because of the storm, Mr. Romney plunged back into the fray in Roanoke, Va., mocking the president for proposing the creation of cabinet-level post devoted to business development. Mr. Obama discussed the idea during an interview with MSNBC that aired on Monday, just as Mr. Romney was withdrawing from electioneering. “We know something about the past, we’ve seen what his policies have produced,” Mr. Romney said in Virginia. “The only way to get this economy going is the kind of bold change I’ve described, real change from Day 1.”
“I don’t think adding a new chair in his cabinet will help add millions of jobs on main street,” Mr. Romney said at a rally Thursday Mr. Romney’s efforts to claim the mantle of change from Mr. Obama — who rode to victory in 2008 by promising a new kind of politics — drew sharp criticism from the president as he began the first of three rallies in three states on Thursday. Wearing a black Air Force one bomber jacket at a rally in Wisconsin, the president scoffed at Mr. Romney’s offer of a new direction.
morning at a family owned factory. “We don’t need a secretary of business to understand business we need a president who understands business and I do. “He’s saying he’s the candidate of change,” Mr. Obama told his supporters, after accusing Mr. Romney of continuing Republican policies that would benefit big companies and the rich. “Let me tell you, Wisconsin. We know what change looks like. And what the governor is offering sure isn’t change.”
Mr. Romney has played down his record as a businessman in closing week of the campaign, focusing instead on how he would govern should he win on Tuesday. He has talked up his bipartisan instincts and his record of cutting spending as governor of Massachusetts. On Thursday, he offered himself up as a champion of businesses. Mr. Obama used the experience of his day on Wednesday with Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey, as an example of the kind of bipartisanship that has been missing in Washington recently. “When disaster strikes, we see America at its best,” he said. “Leaders of different parties working to fix what’s broken. Neighbors helping neighbors.”
“Today, we’re at the lowest level of new business start-ups in 30 years,” he said. “So I want to change this dynamic and make business recognize they have a friend in Washington, not a foe.” But the president’s own plea for bipartisanship did not dampen his desire to draw a sharp contrast with his rival, whom he described as little more than a rubber stamp of Republican policies. Mr. Obama defined the first four years of his own presidency as the struggle to protect “a strong and growing middle class” and said that “our work is not yet done. Our fight goes on.”
In a new ad of his own, Mr. Romney mocks Mr. Obama’s suggestion this week that Mr. Obama might create a new cabinet-level position called “Secretary of Business.” In the ad, a narrator says the president’s answer to everything is adding more government bureaucracy. From Thursday until Election Day, the president will be in nearly constant motion, flying to three states a day, as he works furiously to lock down what his campaign insists are narrow but durable leads over Mr. Romney in Nevada, Iowa, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Colorado, and above all, Ohio. On Friday, Mr. Obama will spend the entire day in the state, barnstorming small towns like Hilliard, Lima, Springfield, and Mentor. And he is likely to return to the state at least one more time before Tuesday, possibly to make up for a lost visit to the Cincinnati area.
“Why not have a president who actually understands business,” the ad says of Mr. Romney. “He’s done it before. He can do it again.” In addition to his travel, the campaign on Thursday released a new television ad featuring effusive praise from former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. The ad, which will run in 10 states during the final days of the campaign, underscores Mr. Obama’s closing message by showing Mr. Powell, a Republican, declaring that “we ought to keep on the track that we are on.”
The president’s stop in Wisconsin is aimed at securing a state the campaign did not worry about before Mr. Romney chose a native son, Representative Paul D. Ryan, as his running mate. Mr. Ryan has campaigned extensively there, and polls show the race has narrowed. The Obama campaign feels more confident about the president’s next stop on Thursday, Nevada. Despite having one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates and millions of homes in foreclosure, the state has trended Democratic in recent elections.
Mr. Romney’s decision to spend the entire day in Virginia comes a day after he campaigned in Florida. Both are Southern states the Republican campaign had hoped to have locked up in his column long before the final weekend of the campaign. But public polls suggest both states remain very close.
A poll released by The New York Times, CBS News and Quinnipiac University on Wednesday showed a virtual tie in Virginia, with Mr. Obama receiving support from 49 percent of likely voters in the state compared with Mr. Romney’s 47 percent. The survey has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.A poll released by The New York Times, CBS News and Quinnipiac University on Wednesday showed a virtual tie in Virginia, with Mr. Obama receiving support from 49 percent of likely voters in the state compared with Mr. Romney’s 47 percent. The survey has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
On the first day of November, surrogates for the candidates — including their running mates — also are fanning out across the country in an effort to reach as many voters as possible as the campaign clock rapidly counts down toward Election Day. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will be holding events in Iowa on Thursday. Representative Paul D. Ryan, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, will be in Colorado and Nevada.On the first day of November, surrogates for the candidates — including their running mates — also are fanning out across the country in an effort to reach as many voters as possible as the campaign clock rapidly counts down toward Election Day. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will be holding events in Iowa on Thursday. Representative Paul D. Ryan, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, will be in Colorado and Nevada.
But Thursday’s focus will be on the candidates themselves as they seek to move beyond the natural disaster still affecting millions along the East Coast. With the remaining campaign now being counted in hours, not days, there is little time left to rally supporters and persuade the remaining undecided voters.But Thursday’s focus will be on the candidates themselves as they seek to move beyond the natural disaster still affecting millions along the East Coast. With the remaining campaign now being counted in hours, not days, there is little time left to rally supporters and persuade the remaining undecided voters.
New polls from NBC News, The Wall Street Journal and Marist out Thursday morning show Mr. Obama holding on to narrow leads in Iowa and locked in tight races with Mr. Romney in Wisconsin and New Hampshire.New polls from NBC News, The Wall Street Journal and Marist out Thursday morning show Mr. Obama holding on to narrow leads in Iowa and locked in tight races with Mr. Romney in Wisconsin and New Hampshire.
The close races — especially in places like Wisconsin, which had not been considered to be competitive for many weeks — have set the stage for a rhetorical battle by the campaigns over which side has the momentum going into the final weekend of the campaign.The close races — especially in places like Wisconsin, which had not been considered to be competitive for many weeks — have set the stage for a rhetorical battle by the campaigns over which side has the momentum going into the final weekend of the campaign.
On Wednesday, top officials from the campaigns held conference calls with reporters in which they accused the other side of trying to mislead the public about the true state of the race in the key battleground states.On Wednesday, top officials from the campaigns held conference calls with reporters in which they accused the other side of trying to mislead the public about the true state of the race in the key battleground states.
Advisers to Mr. Romney said they were making a late push to win Minnesota, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania because of polling evidence suggesting that the races in those states are tightening and that the president is losing support in those places. Mr. Romney’s campaign and several Republican third-party groups have begun advertising in the states.Advisers to Mr. Romney said they were making a late push to win Minnesota, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania because of polling evidence suggesting that the races in those states are tightening and that the president is losing support in those places. Mr. Romney’s campaign and several Republican third-party groups have begun advertising in the states.
“This is opening up yet another front for them to defend,” Rich Beeson, Mr. Romney’s political director, told reporters on Wednesday.“This is opening up yet another front for them to defend,” Rich Beeson, Mr. Romney’s political director, told reporters on Wednesday.
Top strategists for Mr. Obama scoffed at that notion Wednesday, saying that the president is in no danger of losing those three states. David Axelrod, the president’s chief strategist, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program Wednesday morning that he would shave off his mustache of 40 years if Mr. Obama lost any of those three states. Top strategists for Mr. Obama scoffed at that notion Wednesday, saying that the president is in no danger of losing those three states. David Axelrod, the president’s chief strategist, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program Wednesday that he would shave off his mustache of 40 years if Mr. Obama lost any of those three states.
The president’s strategists said visits to Wisconsin, Minnesota and Pennsylvania by Mr. Biden and former President Bill Clinton were not admissions of weakness. They said Mr. Romney’s decision to spend money in those states was an admission that he cannot win some of the more traditional battleground states.The president’s strategists said visits to Wisconsin, Minnesota and Pennsylvania by Mr. Biden and former President Bill Clinton were not admissions of weakness. They said Mr. Romney’s decision to spend money in those states was an admission that he cannot win some of the more traditional battleground states.
“Its desperation is palpable,” said Jim Messina, the president’s campaign manager, said of the Romney campaign. “Its desperation is palpable,” said Jim Messina, the president’s campaign manager, of the Romney campaign.

Michael Barbaro contributed reporting.