Other races

State Democratic parties in Republican strongholds are in full campaign mode despite knowing the top of the ticket won't deliver.

TOP STORY: Final campaign stops

Mitt Romney will make Election Day stops in Cleveland and Pittsburgh in a last-ditch attempt to bring home votes in the critical swing states.

The late additions to the candidate's schedule are a sign that the Republican nominee felt it necessary to make a late push in Pennsylvania and Ohio, two states that are key to President Obama's Rust Belt firewall. If the president is able to hold the pair, along with Wisconsin and Iowa, he will likely have enough electoral votes to secure a second term.

Meanwhile, Obama plans to continue his tradition of playing basketball on Election Day and has no plans to leave Illinois, according to campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

And the final full day of the 2012 presidential campaign has featured a swing-state spring by two candidates determined to leave nothing to chance in a razor-tight election.

TOP STORY: Campaigning resumes

President Obama toured parts of storm-ravaged New Jersey with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a prominent supporter of Mitt Romney.

Obama and Christie met in Atlantic City and took an hour-long helicopter flight over the New Jersey shore, where homes were flattened and flooded this week by Hurricane Sandy. They then visited a community center in Brigantine, a small town just north of Atlantic City.

Meanwhile, Romney returned to the campaign trail but avoided any direct attacks on Obama in his first outing.

The closest Romney came to a direct critique of Obama was declaring that he doesn't "just talk about change — I actually have a plan to execute change and make it happen." His reluctance to attack the president head-on was almost certainly part of an attempt to strike the right tone as much of the Northeast continues to struggle in the aftermath of the deadly storm.

Obama plans to return to the campaign trail on Thursday, with stops planned in Green Bay, Wis., Boulder, Colo., and Las Vegas.

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TOP STORY: Campaigning to resume Wednesday

Mitt Romney will resume campaigning Wednesday with a trio of events in Florida, while President Obama has canceled his election events to stay in Washington to monitor fallout from the storm the ravaged the East Coast.

Romney's move effectively ends the temporary suspension in the presidential campaign triggered by the landfall of Hurricane Sandy.

Obama will tour damage from the hurricane in New Jersey on Wednesday with Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican and Romney ally who gave the keynote address at this year's GOP convention.

The trip is not avowedly political, but images of Obama and Christie walking the New Jersey boardwalk side by side will inevitably be seen through the prism of the presidential election that will take place just six days afterward.

They also could pay political dividends for Obama — especially at a time when TV commercials from Romney have talked up his abilities to reach across the aisle, drawing a clear if implicit contrast with Obama.

TOMORROW’S AGENDA TODAY: President Obama has canceled his scheduled campaign event in Ohio to stay in Washington to monitor fallout from Hurricane Sandy. He also will visit New Jersey in the afternoon to examine the damage from the storm.

Mitt Romney will be campaigning Florida with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), former Gov. Jeb Bush and Senate candidate Connie Mack (R). They will hold a rally in Tampa at 11:10 a.m., in Coral Gables at 2:20 p.m. and in Jacksonville at 8 p.m.
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TOP STORY: Hurricane havoc on campaign trail

Hurricane Sandy is hitting the presidential race and the East Coast at the same time, throwing both candidates off their schedules and threatening to alter the voter-turnout calculus.

The storm comes at a tough time for both candidates — the election is only eight days away, and polls show the race remains tight.

Mitt Romney's campaign canceled scheduled rallies in Wisconsin and Florida later on Monday, as well as events planned for Tuesday. It also canceled events for running mate Paul Ryan.

And President Obama left Orlando, Fla., before his scheduled event with former President Clinton, so he could return to Washington and monitor the storm.

The president said he's "not worried at this point about the impact on the election."

"I'm worried about the impact on families," Obama said. "I'm worried about the impact on our first-responders. I'm worried about the impact on our economy and on transportation.

"The election will take care of itself next week," he said. "Right now our number on priority is to make sure that we are saving lives, that search and rescue teams are going to be in place, that people are going to get the food, the water, the shelter they need in case of emergency and that we respond as quickly as possible to get the economy back on track."

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TOP STORY: Obama bringing in Bill Clinton

Mitt Romney leads President Obama by 3 points nationally, according to the closely watched Gallup daily tracking poll.

Romney takes 50 percent to Obama's 47 in the poll of likely voters, released Thursday. That’s unchanged from Wednesday’s daily tracking poll.

Romney on Thursday looked to paint his campaign as offering a "big-change path," drawing an implicit contrast with what the Republican presidential nominee called an obsession with "small things" by the Obama campaign.

The Republican hopeful hit the idea of "big change" several times during his stump speech, the start of a furious day of campaigning across Ohio.

"I commit to you, when Paul Ryan and I go to Washington, we'll bring big changes," Romney said, adding the president only offered more of the same.

Meanwhile, the Obama campaign announced that former President Clinton will join Obama for three campaign stops in crucial swing states on Monday.

The rallies come just eight days before Election Day and will be held in Orlando, Fla.; Youngstown, Ohio; and Prince William County, Va.

The events will mark the most intensive burst of campaigning that the two men have undertaken during this cycle, and highlight the 42nd president's widely acknowledged effectiveness as an advocate for his Democratic successor.

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TOP STORY: Obama closing national gap with Romney

President Obama is closing in on Mitt Romney nationally, according to the closely watched Gallup daily tracking poll.

Romney takes 50 percent over Obama at 47 percent in the poll of likely voters released Wednesday. That’s the closest Gallup’s likely voter tracking survey has been since Oct. 14. Romney had maintained leads of between 5 and 7 points over the last seven days.

The survey is a rolling seven-day average through Oct. 23, so it completely encapsulates polling data since the second presidential debate last Tuesday night in Hempstead, N.Y., but includes only one day of reaction to Monday night’s foreign policy debate in Boca Raton, Fla.

Check out the latest polls of battleground states below in the polling section.

TOMORROW’S AGENDA TODAY: President Obama is on Day Two of his multi-state tour with stops in Florida, Virginia and Ohio. He will also make a stop in Chicago to vote.

Mitt Romney will be campaigning in Ohio with an event in Cincinnati at 11 a.m.; a campaign rally in Worthington at 3:10 p.m. and one in Defiance at 7:35 p.m., where he will be joined by country music singers John Rich and Randy Owen.

Vice President Biden will travel to Sioux Falls, S.D, to attend an evening prayer service for the-late Sen. George McGovern.

Paul Ryan will be campaigning in Virginia with a rally in Bristol at 12:30 p.m. and one in Charlottesville at 6:45 p.m.

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TOP STORY: Candidates sling barbs and ads

President Obama and Mitt Romney traded jabs on the campaign trail the day after their final debate.

Obama accused Romney of being “all over the map,” seeking to portray his GOP rival as a flip-flopper in the final two weeks before Election Day.

“We’re accustomed to seeing politicians changing their positions from four years ago, but not from four days ago,” Obama told a crowd in the swing state of Florida.

On a conference call with reporters, Obama strategist David Axelrod pushed back on polls that show the campaign is losing nationally, saying "We have the ball. We have the lead."

And Axelrod and Obama campaign manager Jim Messina also pushed back on reports saying the Obama campaign has given up in battlground states like North Carolina. "We continue to feel like North Carolina is a neck-and-neck race."

Romney, meanwhile, said Obama had been "reduced" by the strength of the Republican candidate's insurgent campaign.

"He has been reduced to trying to defend characters on Sesame Street," Romney told supporters at a rally in Nevada. "Word games of various kinds and misfired attacks, one after the other. The truth is that attacks on me are not an agenda."

Romney went on to say that through four debates, "we have not heard an agenda from the president."

"That is why his campaign is taking on water and ours is full speed ahead," Romney said.

TOMORROW’S AGENDA TODAY: President Obama begins a two-day, multiple stop campaign tour. Wednesday includes events in Las Vegas; Davenport, Iowa; Denver; and Los Angeles, where Obama will appear on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

Mitt Romney will hold a campaign rally in Reno, Nev., at 11:45 a.m. He’ll then hold a campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, at 7 p.m.

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Fraud reports in multiple states "suggest something more than the isolated acts of 'a few bad apples,' " lawmakers said.

TOP STORY: Last chance

The final presidential debate could be the last opportunity for President Obama and Mitt Romney to shake up a race that seems destined for a photo finish.

It will also give the candidates their only remaining chance to speak directly to millions of voters just two weeks before the election.

Romney spent his debate prep in Florida, while Obama was holed up at Camp David. The president met with his debate prep team for 45 minutes Monday morning before leaving for Florida, according to a pool report.

He will be having steak and potatoes for dinner — the same meal he had before his aggressive performance in the second debate.

Romney, meanwhile, spent Monday afternoon at his Florida hotel with his family. He had a veggie burger, Cajun fries and a shake for lunch, according to reports.

Expect Libya to play a starring role in the third presidential showdown.

The candidates meet on stage in Boca Raton, Fla., at 9 p.m. You can watch the debate livestreamed on thehill.com

TOMORROW’S AGENDA TODAY: President Obama is campaigning in Delray, Fla., and Dayton, Ohio. Vice President Biden will join him in Dayton and, before that, will campaign in Toledo.

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan hold a campaign rally in Henderson, Nev., at 12:15 p.m. They will then hold a campaign rally at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colo., at 7:05 p.m.