Yahoo News Obama And Romney In Final Weekend Frenzy
President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney have launched a frenzied final weekend of campaigning, with both seeking an edge in a handful of battleground states.
Opinion polls showed a race for the popular vote so close that only a statistically insignificant point or two separated the two rivals.
Soundings in the nine remaining battleground states tightened after Mr Obama's poor performance in the first presidential debate on October 3, and have stayed that way.
However Republicans quietly acknowledged that Mr Romney had so far been unable to achieve the breakthroughs needed such pivotal states as Ohio and Wisconsin.
That leaves Mr Romney with the tougher path to reach the required 270 electoral votes.
He must win more of the nine most-contested swing states that are not reliably Republican or Democratic – the linchpin of Ohio, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado, Nevada, Wisconsin, Iowa and New Hampshire.
After holding mostly small and mid-size rallies for much of the campaign, Mr Obama's team is planning a series of larger events this weekend aimed at drawing big crowds in battleground states.
Still, the campaign is not expecting to draw the massive audiences Mr Obama had in the closing days of the 2008 race, when his rallies drew more than 50,000.
Mr Obama's closing weekend also includes two joint events with former president Bill Clinton - a rally Saturday night in Virginia and an event Sunday in New Hampshire.
The two Democrats had planned to campaign together across three states earlier this week, but that trip was called off because of superstorm Sandy.
On Saturday the President was briefed by rescue co-ordinators on government efforts to support recovery work, with many parts of the US East Coast still suffering from fuel shortages and power outages.
Meanwhile Mr Romney hosted a massive rally on Friday night in West Chester, Ohio, drawing more than 10,000 people to the Cincinnati area for an event that featured rock stars, sports celebrities and dozens of Republican officials.
It was a high-energy event on a cold night designed to kick off his own sprint to the finish.
Mr Romney arrived in New Hampshire close to midnight on Friday after an 18-hour day on the campaign trail that took him from Virginia to Wisconsin and on to Ohio.
He was attending a Saturday morning rally on the New Hampshire coast before making an afternoon appearance in Iowa, and two more in Colorado.
He shifted an original plan to campaign in Nevada on Sunday in favour of a schedule likely to bring him back to Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Aides stress that his schedule is fluid and may change with little notice as they evaluate where his time is best spent.
On Saturday, Obama's first stop was in Mentor, Ohio, then he was campaigning in Milwaukee and Dubuque, Iowa, and ending the day in Bristow, Virginia.
On Sunday, he was taking his campaign to New Hampshire, Florida, Colorado and back to Ohio.
About 25 million people have already voted in 34 states and the District of Columbia. Mr Obama holds an apparent lead over Mr Romney in key states.
But Mr Obama's advantage is not as big as the one he held over John McCain in the 2008 race, giving Mr Romney hope that he could make up that gap in Tuesday's election.
