Stephanie Cutter, the deputy campaign manager of President Obama's reelection effort, said Thursday that the president's firewall in Wisconsin, Ohio and Iowa was "going to hold."
"Yeah, it is going to hold," Cutter said Thursday during an appearance on MSNBC. "We feel good where we are. We are ahead in all of these states. I don't think they can point to a clear pathway."
Cutter went on to say the president's reelection team "have many different options to the firewall."
"No one is talking about Florida … We are tied or in some cases ahead in Florida," Cutter said. "Florida could be in the Obama victory column, and we're counting on it."
Asked directly if Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa and Colorado — states where the president and his top surrogates have campaigned most aggressively in recent days — were the most important states to the campaign, Cutter demurred.
"We are actually hitting every battleground state," Cutter said. "And, you know, we feel good about where we are. He's headed out to Wisconsin today. He has a solid lead there. Colorado, we're ahead. So, you know, things are coming together. We've got several different paths to 270 [electoral votes]."
Cutter also denied that the president's frequent trips to Ohio — considered crucial in warding off Mitt Romney's attempts to capture enough electoral votes to become president — betrayed a lack of confidence on behalf of the president's team.
"We have some time to make up," Cutter said. "The president was off the road several days to take care of preparations and response to the hurricane, you know, and I know that Republicans have never won the White House without going through Ohio. We are up there, and we are up there for a very good reason."
Cutter also said recent ads from the Romney campaign focusing on the auto bailout could be interpreted as a sign of desperation from the other side.
"Just look at the conversation that's been had on the ground in Ohio over the past three or four days," Cutter said. "It's all about whether Mitt Romney is telling the truth about the auto bailout. The papers are scathing and they are criticizing Mitt Romney because he's not being truthful about the auto bailout."
