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The Obama campaign put all joking aside after Thursday night’s charity dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in New York with a new memo on Friday morning that said the US president was ahead in the critical battleground state of Ohio compared with this time four years ago.
The memo highlighted four polls that showed Mr Obama with significant leads among early voters and that four in five Ohioans who had registered to vote this year were either female, under 30 years-old, black or Latino – demographics that traditionally favour the president.
“Republicans are similarly talking up their ground game and early vote numbers, but their assertions rest on much shakier ground,” said Jeremy Bird, the Obama campaign’s national field director.
Mr Bird hit out at the Romney campaign’s suggestion that Republicans were making strong gains in early voting and outperforming voter registration in Ohio’s largest counties. He said the Romney campaign was “disingenuously” looking at the increase in Republican voters during the primary, when Republicans had a competitive race but Democrats did not.
Mr Obama and Mr Romney headed back on the campaign trail – the president to Virginia while Mr Romney was in Florida – after a brief respite in their battle for the White House.
On Thursday night, both presidential candidates appeared at the annual Al Smith Catholic charity dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in New York and poked fun at one another and themselves.
Mr Romney, in white tie and tails, began his speech talking about the many wardrobe changes required by an election campaign. “It’s nice to finally relax and wear what Ann and I wear around the house,” he quipped.
He joked about Mr Obama’s running mate, Joe Biden, who he remarked would “laugh at anything” – a reference to Mr Biden’s frequent laughter and big grin during his recent debate against Paul Ryan, the Republican vice-presidential hopeful.
Mr Romney referred to the media’s alleged bias in favour of Mr Obama. He predicted the headlines for the next morning would read: “Obama embraced by Catholics. Romney dines with rich people.”
The Republican candidate made a few biting remarks, including one when he said he wondered what Mr Obama was thinking as he looked around the room among the elite in Washington with just a few months left in his presidency: “So little time, so much to redistribute.”
Mr Obama took shots at Mr Romney. As he approached the podium he said to the clapping crowd: “Please take your seats. Otherwise Clint Eastwood will yell at them,” a reference to the Hollywood actor’s performance at the Republican national convention.
He poked fun at Mr Romney’s trip to Europe, in which he offended Londoners on the eve of the opening ceremony for the Olympics. “After my foreign trip in 2008, I was attacked as a celebrity because I was so popular with our allies overseas. And I have to say, I’m impressed with how well governor Romney has avoided that problem,” he said to laughs.
He noted that “Mitt” was actually Mr Romney’s middle name (his first name is Willard), and said “I wish I could use my middle name.” Mr Obama’s middle name is Hussein.
The US president did not spare himself. “Some of you may have noticed, I had a lot more energy in our second debate. I felt really well rested after the nice long nap I had in the first debate.”
And, as he did when he first appeared at the dinner in 2008 alongside John McCain, he included a jab at his running mate.
“I’ve heard some people say, ‘Barack, you’re not as young as you used to be. Where’s that golden smile? Where’s that pep in your step?’ And I say, ‘Settle down, Joe, I’m trying to run a cabinet meeting.”
•The Hill
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Source : punchng[dot]com
Soldiers at a checkpoint on Oba Adesida Road, Akure... on Friday.