Pa. among "reach" states tempting Romney camp

This article originally appeared on RealClearPolitics.

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. If Mitt Romney were to make a last-minute move to expand his electoral map, Ground Zero for that effort likely would be here amid the suburban sprawl of Montgomery County, outside of Philadelphia.

But as about 20 Obama campaign volunteers gathered Thursday night for another evening of phone-banking, there was little concern among the Democratic partisans inside Dave Hopkins' actuarial office just off of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Confidence about the president carrying Pennsylvania has always been high here, as he has not trailed in a single state poll since February and leads Romney by 4.8 percentage points in the latest RCP Average.

But there is added reason for Obama's Keystone State legions to feel optimistic with just a week and a half to go until Election Day: The Romney camp has not aired a single TV ad in Pennsylvania, and the former Massachusetts governor has not set foot here in a month.

"If he thought he could win, Romney would be doing something really strong here, and he's not," said Cindy Bellamy, the local neighborhood team leader for the Obama campaign. "And that's because he doesn't have any hope."

Romney's running mate, Paul Ryan, did hold a rally in the Pittsburgh suburb of Moon Township last Saturday, and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Friday headlined a campaign bus tour through western Pennsylvania with former Gov. Tom Ridge, Pittsburgh Steelers great Lynn Swann, and other Republican surrogates.

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But Mary Isenhour, a longtime Democratic strategist in the state, said the GOP nominee's campaign here has been as quiet as she has ever seen one at this stage of the game. Isenhour did not even feign concern that a last-minute Romney blitz could close the gap.

"This is a really big state with a whole lot of people in it," she said. "You can't drop 60 or 80 people here, even with three or four weeks, and expect to deliver anything. It just doesn't work that way."

But Republicans insist they see glimmers of hope both here and in Michigan -- Romney's birth state and another potentially inviting late target, where he trails by an even smaller margin of 4 percent in the latest RCP Average.

In a phone interview on Friday, Priebus noted that public polls showed both states trending in the challenger's direction.

"The one thing to keep in mind in Michigan and Pennsylvania is we have spent boatloads of money on the ground here," Priebus said. "I mean, we've got victory centers everywhere here, we've spent millions on mail, volunteers. So the amount of money we're spending in Pennsylvania and Michigan is probably more money than we've spent in '08 and '04, so we're already committed here. The question is how much more do you go on the air, and I think that's a question we're going to answer in the next few days, obviously."

Priebus said there was still "plenty of time" to decide on an ad blitz in Pennsylvania and Michigan -- especially the former, where over 90 percent of voters are expected to cast their ballots on Election Day.

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[mikesfilms]

ENERGY:

LIE: Obama's bad for oil: (AP 10/24/12): "Oil production surging to record high," "fourth straight year of crude increases." Thank you Obama. US soon to overtake Saudi Arabia as 1st world producer. Desperate Romney spewing hogwash. Keep the Recovery going. Don't change Obama for a Scheme Bag.

LIE: I'm good for Oil. Big-Oil Romney wants to be a Dictator. Drill-baby-drill in Alaska and everywhere, without regulations, against the 99% of the locals' wish. Never mind Exxon Valdez and Gulf's Great Spill. We live in Obama's democracy not in Romney's Tyranny. He bought the Candidacy and thinks he can buy everything. VOTE FOR ME SUCKERS.

[GOP-R--Con-Men]

President Obama wanted to update America's power grid (in part by burying power lines) and transportation systems including from New York to New Jersey but congressional republicans and Chris Christie blocked him on both counts. The irony of it all, further proof and reason not to vote for republicans.

[mikesfilms]

ECONOMY:

LIE, I'll balance the Budget increasing Defense by $2 trillion, lowering the Rich Tax by $500/yr. He'll explode the Debt and send us down the way of Greece. VOTE FOR ME SUCKERS.

LIE, "We're worse off than 4 yrs ago. " Economic growth 2009: 4.6% negative. 2012: 2.3%. Autos, Banks, Housing, Consumer Confidence, others on the upswing.

Bush Era will be a picnic compared with Romneynomics: lower the Rich Tax to Bush levels: Loss, of $500Bill/yr. Hike Defense to war levels, $2Trill (just like Bush). Explode the Debt. Sink the nation the way of Greece. Mega-borrow from China. Bush reborn.

LIE: I'm going to fix the nation. He killed bin Laden and several dozen al Qaeda leaders and built the pyramids of Egypt. He saved the auto industry from collapse and built the Great Wall of China. Check if he had a hand in winning the Revolutionary War. Gas prices will come down if he and pals stop the bomb-Iran blabber. Pinocchio will create 500,000 jobs/month. What with? Bushanomics that's cost 10 million jobs? Now he's going to fix the economy with Paul Ryan's budget and deep cuts to the Rich Tax. His math sucks. Rather, he's going to accelerate the Debt clock, lose millions of jobs, and sink us the way of Greece. Romney a liar? "Yes," Newt Gingrich. VOTE FOR ME SUCKERS.

[Yeshuratnam]

This election will not be a replay of 2000. The reason for this is the incredible momentum gained by Romney. Whatever the polls may say -- real or manipulated -- there has been a mass upsurge in favor of Romney from the first week of October onwards. It has become unstoppable.This is evidenced by the large crowds that throng Romney's meetings. The Obama Team's advertisement issues such as 'auto bailout,' '47%,' etc are ignored by the American people as local issues and they are concerned about deep recession, massive unemployment and the flawed foreign policy which resulted in the murder of ambassador and the prolonged bloodbath in Syria. There are clear indications that Romney will sweep the polls and he will have enough popular and electoral college vote

[sharkboy234]

pa. vote for obama now. romney is a fraud lets compare romney to hitler.

[mikesfilms]

LIE: Obama's bad for oil: Read today's AP release: "Oil production surging to record high," "fourth straight year of crude increases." Thank you Obama. US soon to overtake Saudi Arabia as 1st world producer. Desperate Romney spewing hogwash. Keep the Recovery going. Don't change Obama for a Scheme Bag.

LIE: I'm good for Oil. Big-Oil Romney wants to be a Dictator. Drill-baby-drill in Alaska and everywhere, without regulations, against the wish of 99% of the locals. Never mind Exxon Valdez and Gulf's Great Spill. We live in Obama's democracy not in Romney's Tyranny. He bought the Candidacy and thinks he can buy everything. I WANT YOUR VOTE SUCKER.

[bluejacket2-2009]

Let's see, I have recently read that Romney thinks he can win in Pa., Michigan, Wisconsin and even Minnesota? All solid blue states... Romnut is chasing ghosts to inspire his base on more lies... It would be like Obama saying he thinks he can win the confederate states of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia....

Karl Rove has his name written all these recent suggestions...

[calltoarms7]

Obama has been a disappointment to the vast majority of Americans over the last 4 years and America cannot afford another 4 years of this narcissist...He is losing and will lose this election-in spite of the large percentage of the media who continue to offer Obama unprecedented cover over his failed politics.

Romney and America 2012

[rationall7]

Romney will be another Bush by throwing this country into wars and have the American focus their attention on the war while Romney opens the door wider to out shoring jobs and tax cuts to the wealthy and telling middle class people to get a job at a fast food chain.

[mikesfilms]

Romney's Pie in the Sky: I'LL RAISE THE DEFENSE BUDGET TO WARTIME LEVEL. I'LL CONTINUE THE RICH TAX AT BUSH LEVEL. I'LL CREATE 12 MILLION JOBS. I'LL BALANCE THE BUDGET. I'LL SHOW YOU HOW AFTER THE ELECTION. VOTE FOR ME SUCKERS. Reality: 12 yrs of Bush taxes have sunk the nation in debt and destroyed 10 million jobs. Clinton created 24 million jobs and had a budget surplus. We can't afford another Bush.

[ongelooflijk-2009]

Romney is a chameleon who will say anything to get elected with a lot of former George W. Bush associates as advisors and he's talking about real change? C'mon people!
Vote Obama / Biden 2012. If Romney wins there are those who are salivating and chomping-at-the-bit for another opportunity to rape and pillage for the almighty dollar and think about little else other than their own position, that Romney's policies will unleash and permit to exploit again!

The rape, pillage allusion refers to the actions and resulting condition our economy was left in after George W's run in office! You know, where tens and hundreds of millions were made by a relatively small percentage of folks while a 'vastly larger number' lost their pensions, saw life savings shrivel-up and home values plummet; all while having to dance to the tune of the reckless, greedy Wall Street, Bain Capital, Uber-Capitalist types and their allies in Congress!
It is this unmitigated morass and mess that President Obama has been trying to navigate and rectify with zero, I repeat, zero Republican support throughout his entire term in office. For those in the 99% voting for Romney, it will be the 2nd greatest mistake middle-class America has made since voting George W. Bush in for another term in office in 2004, should Romney be elected.