Romney to visit Pennsylvania, David Axelrod mustache up for grabs
President Obama returns to the campaign trail after Hurricane Sandy devastated the eastern seaboard. Mitt Romney’s momentum continues, with a Sunday trip planned for Pennsylvania.
Obama still holds a lead there, but it has been shrinking as Romney’s campaign hopes a Philly stop may give him another boost.
Pennsylvania has voted for the Democratic presidential nominee in every election for the last 20 years. Independent pollsters have called it the Republicans’ white whale.
“Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are going all in Pennsylvania, following the lead of every Republican presidential candidate since 1992 who have made last ditch investments in the Keystone State. Not one of them carried the state,” Obama campaign northeast regional press secretary Michael Czin said in a statement.
With polls showing the presidential race tightening in Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania – and Republicans signaling they think those three Democratic states could be in play.
In an interview on MSNBC, Senior Obama adviser David Axelrod said he would go on the network and “shave off my mustache of 40 years if we lose any of those three states.”
Michigan and Pennsylvania last went for a Republican in 1988. Minnesota last went red in 1972.
“The biggest drop-off for the president has been in these more suburban, upper-class areas,” said Jim Lee, the president of Susquehanna Polling and Research, a Republican firm. “The women there tend to be very moderate, pro-choice, pro-gun control, pro-gay rights. And they don’t fear a Romney presidency like they would maybe a Rick Santorum presidency. I don’t think Obama has been able to convince them that Romney is a radical.”
[…] 303 electoral votes, battleground states all seemed to go Obama’s way. Pennsylvania was thought to be possible steal for Romney on Friday, but Obama won handily by 5%. There are several states that are essentially a tossup or close to […]