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over state voter laws that could cut into Obama's support among minorities.
• Scott Arceneaux, executive director of the Florida Democratic Party, said fears about turnout keep him up at night.
• "It's a huge state, requiring a massive effort," Arceneaux said. "It's the largest and strongest ground game this state has ever seen. But knowing what we have to get done in the next eight weeks, we worry about it."
• The campaign's final seven weeks will dump new torrents of TV ads on the few competitive states, fueled by the eye-popping fundraising of Romney, Obama and their supporters. In a single visit to New York City last week, Romney collected $7.5 million at three events, his campaign said.
• The TV spots' effectiveness could fade as weary viewers tune them out. That would elevate the importance of the "ground game" -- the phone calls and door-to-door contacts the parties use to bring their voters to the polls.
• In an election this tight, virtually any factor -- turnout, a debate gaffe, an economic surprise -- might decide the outcome. Or it might turn on a mundane, hard-to-measure event, such as Romney suddenly finding ways to connect with voters who are within inches of abandoning the president.
• "A lot of them I talk to are tired of Obama, but they're not sure they like Mitt Romney either," said Deb Gann, head of the Fayette County Republican Party in Iowa. "A lot of people I talk to just don't know who is the lesser of two evils."
• For now at least, Democrats are buoyed by what they see as Romney's lurches from subject to subject. They pointed to his quick denunciation of the Cairo embassy's appeal for calm last week when Muslims began rampaging in protest of an amateur video that denigrates Islam.
• Democrats accused Romney of politicizing a tragedy. Hawkish conservatives cheered Romney's claims that Obama shows weak, halting leadership overseas.
• Obama aides said Romney has miscalculated, failing to assure Americans he would respond in judicious, level-headed ways to crises. Other Democrats said Romney is grasping for any rung that might move him up the ladder.
• "The central premise of his candidacy - that he will be better than President Obama in dealing with the economy -- just isn't working," said Democratic consultant Jim Manley. "They keep on allowing themselves to be distracted by divisive social policy issues that are really out of the mainstream. And if Romney really is relying on foreign policy as his best shot to oppose the president, he's in deep, deep trouble."
• Not so, said veteran GOP strategist Terry Holt.
• "It's absolutely vital that our nominee speak to the issues that people are watch

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