The presidential race has narrowed its focus to just a handful of swing states, as the candidates turn their attention to the voters who will ultimately decide the outcome of the election.
Due to the strange math of the Electoral College, whichever candidate wins in a particular state gets all of that state's votes. Most states are solidly either Republican or Democrat, and no amount of campaigning will switch it to a different column.
So the states that might go for either candidate in November are the key to the entire election. There are nine this year: Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Colorado, Iowa, Virginia, North Carolina, New Hampshire and Wisconsin.
Both President Obama and Mitt Romney spent the day in Ohio on Tuesday. Polls showed Romney closing the gap between himself and the president in that state-some polls said they were tied, while others showed Obama with only a 4-point lead, down from 8 points only a week before.
While this campaign is awash in money on both sides, funds are still finite, so the parties carefully triage resources, buying expensive ads and paying campaign workers in states where they might make the most difference.
The latest polls in Florida, some of which still tally opinion from before Obama's disastrous debate performance last week, show Obama with a slight lead, though that's likely been eroded in the past few days.
Obama is up by about a single point in Nevada, due partly to heavy Latino support. Colorado is swinging toward Romney, with an ARG poll showing him up by 4 points, after several weeks of an Obama lead that disappeared after the debate.
Obama is still holding on in Iowa, where he maintains a relatively comfortable margin of about 3 points.
Virginia is tipping toward Romney, though Obama currently maintains his edge by less than half a percent.
North Carolina is drifting firmly into Romney's column, after several polls showed him with huge margins. North Carolina has been traditionally Republican for years, until Obama campaigned there in 2008 and won.
New Hampshire and Wisconsin still seem safe for Obama, both hovering around 4 or 5 points in his favor.
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