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(Continued from page 27)
with events in Florida, Virginia and New Hampshire.
• But the richest prize is Ohio, and both Obama and Romney were rallying their supporters in its capital, Columbus.
• Whoever wins Ohio has a simpler path to amass the 270 electoral votes needed to claim the presidency. With national polls showing the two candidates locked in a virtual tie, the outcome in a handful of key states will determine who occupies the White House for the next four years.
• For Obama, Iowa, Wisconsin and Ohio are his firewall. "I think it's going to hold firm," Vice President Joe Biden told a rally in Ohio Sunday. Victories in those three states, barring a huge upset in a state like Pennsylvania, would virtually assure him re-election. "I think we're going to win clearly," Biden said.
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Florida's economy, demographics leave Obama and Romney frustrated and uncertain to very end
• TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- To the last minute, Florida is proving to be an expensive and frustrating state for President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney alike, seemingly resistant to arguments that play well in Ohio, Colorado and other states.
• For all the talk of Florida leaning Republican, both nominees are making stops here in the campaign's final 40 hours, a testament to its uncertainty. Their campaigns and allies have poured $130 million into Florida TV ads.
• Florida is a tough sell for Obama's national message of steady economic recovery, because its unemployment and foreclosure rates remain above the national average. The auto industry bailout ads airing in Ohio would make little sense here.
• And Obama's standard remarks to Hispanics don't resonate so well in Florida because its two largest Hispanic groups -- Cubans and Puerto Ricans -- are exempt from immigration laws that Mexican-Americans and others intensely follow.
• These factors played into Obama's decision to make his strongest battleground stand in Ohio, which has 18 electoral votes to Florida's 29. And they prompted Republicans to hope Romney would lock up Florida early.
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With schools back and gas scarce, NYC region commuters brace for post-Sandy commute
• NEW YORK (AP) -- A week after Superstorm Sandy ravaged the New Jersey (Continued on page 29)
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