HAY THERE: Mitt Romney makes his pitch to voters at an Iowa farm yesterday as he tries to build support in the battleground state. (
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WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney is getting a Rust Belt resurgence out of his debate triumph over President Obama — moving up in crucial battleground Ohio and pulling even closer in blue-hued Pennsylvania just a month before the election.
In Ohio — where both candidates campaigned yesterday — a new CNN/ORC poll put Obama’s lead at 51-47 while a new ARG poll gave Romney a 48-47 edge.
Just a week ago, an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll had Obama’s Ohio lead at eight points.
In Pennsylvania, where Democrats have an edge in voter registration, Obama’s lead is 43-40 in the latest Siena College poll.
“Our polling shows we’ve seen a dramatic tightening in Pennsylvania,” said Don Levy, who conducted the survey, explaining that many who had previously backed Obama now say they are undecided.
The Romney camp, with few plausible victory scenarios that don’t involve Ohio, is sending reinforcements to try to counter Obama’s overwhelming personnel advantage, pulling staff out of Pennsylvania even as Romney plans another campaign stop there.
“We have so much going on in Ohio that we’re temporarily asking some staff to help out,” said a campaign official. “With early voting already under way in Ohio but 96 percent of voting taking place on Election Day in Pennsylvania, these 5 of 64 staff will be helpful adding a hand in Ohio right now.”
Romney, who arrived in Ohio last night for the start of a two-day swing, brought along his own reinforcement, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Obama, rallying college students in Columbus, Ohio, on the last day for state voter registration yesterday, said, “We’ll win Ohio again. We’ll win this election again. We’ll finish what we started.”
In Michigan, where Romney has struggled to get traction despite growing up in the state, an EPIC/MRA poll published Monday gives Obama an 48-45 lead.
Other swing states coming in yesterday pointed to a much closer race than two weeks ago.
* In Colorado, Romney had a 50-46 lead, according to a new ARG poll.
* In Nevada, the candidates were tied at 47, a Rasmussen Reports poll showed.
* In New Hampshire, Obama’s 47-41 lead was less than half the advantage he held in late September, a new WMUR poll found.
Another Rasmussen poll that pulls together voter surveys in 11 swing states shows Romney with a 49-47 overall lead. It’s Romney’s first overall swing-state lead since mid-September.
Before heading to Ohio yesterday, Romney hit another swing state, Iowa, where he recounted how he once met one of the two former Navy SEALs killed in the attack on the US consulate in Libya.
“You can imagine how I felt when I found out that he was one of the two former Navy SEALs killed in Benghazi on Sept. 11,” an emotional Romney said.
Obama, meanwhile, took a shot at Romney’s privileged background when making a pitch for student aid yesterday, saying: “I didn’t come from wealth or fame. I got a great education – because that’s what this country does.”
And he slammed “the people who write $10 million checks to try to buy this election,” in a dig at powerful super PAC backers like Sheldon Adelson, who supported Newt Gingrich and then Romney.