WEsterville, Ohio: Mitt Romney yesterday insisted he would win Ohio, but new polls showed him needing a sharp turnaround in the must-win state if he is to grab the White House from President Barack Obama.
The Republican challenger paired up with golf legend Jack Nicklaus as he swung for a comeback in the key battleground, where Obama will touch down later in the day to seek to solidify a growing lead six weeks from election day.
Romney’s struggling campaign absorbed a new blow yesterday as fresh polls showed him trailing Obama by 53 percent to 43 percent in Ohio and by nine percent in the biggest battleground of Florida as voter attitudes harden.
The scenario outlined in Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS News polls would be ruinous to Romney if repeated in the election on November 6, because it would deprive him of a viable route to the White House.
The polls showed a wider Obama lead than in other surveys, but several other recent snapshots of Ohio voter opinion have Romney trailing by seven or eight points. Both campaigns expect the race to narrow as election day approaches.
The former Massachusetts governor showed no sign of disquiet as he pumped up a rally of around 2,000 cheering people at a high school gymnasium on the outskirts of Columbus.
“We’re going to win Ohio,” Romney said, a week before early voting begins in the Midwestern state.
“With every ounce of my energy, when I am president of the United States... I will strengthen America,” Romney promised, arguing that the country could not afford four more years of Obama’s economic policies.
Nicklaus, who won more professional major championships than any other golfer, hoped some of his winning credentials would rub off on Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan, who campaigns in swing state Colorado Wednesday. “Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will usher in a real plan that will grow the economy and restore America to its position as the best place to find a job and start a business,” Nicklaus, an Ohio native son said.
AFP
