President Obama’s campaign manager said today he is leading in the battleground states that will decide the election against Republican Mitt Romney.
“We’re either tied or in the lead in every battleground state, 45 days out,” Jim Messina told reporters during Obama’s campaign trip to Wisconsin.
Messina did not specifically define the battlegrounds, but they are generally the eight to ten states where the Obama-Romney race is closest.
The Obama campaign manager spoke as national polls show a tightening race; the Gallup Daily Tracking Poll for today has each candidate at 47%.
The national polls are secondary, Messina said — what’s important is the individual races in the states that make up the Electoral College.
“I think you will see a tightening in the national polls going forward,” Messina said. “What I care way more about it Ohio, Colorado, Virginia, Wisconsin, etc. In those states, I feel our pathways to victory are there.”
He added: “There are two different campaigns, one in the battlegrounds and one everywhere else. That’s why the national polls aren’t relevant to this campaign.”
Rich Beeson, Romney’s political director, disputed Messina’s analysis, saying that the Republican challenge “is seeing strong support across all the battleground states,” including ones Obama won big in 2008.
“We’ve had more people come out to knock on doors and make phone calls in support of Governor Romney because they understand we can’t afford four more years of policies that increase our debt, don’t create jobs, and have people working more for less.” Beeson said. “It’s why we now see states like Wisconsin, which Republicans haven’t won since 1984, now in play.”
Obama aides agree that Wisconsin is a battleground, even though Democrats have won it in six straight elections, and Obama carried it by 14 points four years ago over Republican candidate John McCain.
Republican success in blocking the recall of Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wisc., helped them hone a good voter turnout operation, Messina said, but he predicted his team would outperform it.
“They are stronger than McCain was in ’08, no question, on the ground,” Messina said. “But we continue to have a strategic advantage.”
(USA Today)
