Obama arresting growth says Romney

Republican nominee Mitt Romney countered with his own appeal to middle-class voters, saying that the President had fostered a culture of “government dependency” that hinders upward mobility.

With their first debate in less than two weeks, the two men and their campaigns are operating at an accelerated pace. Both men were also devoting considerable time to raising campaign cash to bankroll the deluge of ads already saturating hotly contested states.

Weekend polls showed Mr Obama in a near tie with Mr Romney nationally.

But a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist Poll shows the President with leads among likely voters of eight percentage points in Iowa and five points each in Colorado and Wisconsin, all battleground states.

Polls published earlier last week pointed to leads for Mr Obama in Virginia and Ohio.

In a potential opening for Mr Romney, new state-by-state unemployment numbers show rises in August unemployment in five swing states. These swing states do not reliably vote Democratic or Republican and are likely to decide the outcome of the November 6 election.

Obama campaign manager Jim Messina saw good signs all over, saying: “We’re either tied or in the lead in every battleground state 45 days out. I think you will see a tightening in the national polls going forward.”

Mr Obama travelled to Wisconsin, a state that his campaign had considered safely in his column but which Obama aides seem eager to fortify in case Mr Romney’s running mate, Wisconsin native and congressman Paul Ryan, can erode the President’s support.

It was Mr Obama’s first visit to Wisconsin since February. Mr Obama won Wisconsin easily in 2008 but Mr Ryan is popular there and recent polls have Mr Obama up by single digits.