Its decision time in the USA:Obama-Romney face-off

 From Atlanta, Georgia,USA

Courtesy: USA Poultry and Egg Export Council

After months of campaigning and overtures, the two contenders, in the US elections are wrapping up their campaigns concentrating on the swing states in which their ambition hinges.

Virtually all of the nine home-stretch battle states: Ohio, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado, Nevada, Wisconsin, Iowa and New Hampshire are receiving personal attention from the two camps or members of their teams.

A third candidate in the race, Libertarian Garry Johnson, appears to have been drowned in the campaign pool totally dominated by the two rivals whose advertising bills run into more than a billion dollars.

Polling shows the race remains a fifty-fifty heading into the final days. But Romney still has the tougher hurdle; he must win more of the nine most-contested states to reach 270 electoral votes.

With Ohio being the pivotal point, President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Mr Mitt Romney, are sharpening their closing calls, lashing out at one another.

A seemingly offhand statement from President Obama has turned into a major point of contention between the two campaign teams, as Obama’s campaign tries to explain what the president meant when he told a crowd of supporters that “Voting is the best revenge.”

At a rally in Springfield Ohio on Friday when President Obama was discussing economic policies of the 1990s, he mentioned “a Senate candidate by the name of Mitt Romney,” and the crowd booed his contender’s name.

In response, the President said “No, no, no — don’t boo,   Vote!  Voting is the best revenge”

That turned out to be the latest spin weapon in the hands of the Romney team.

"Vote for 'revenge?'" the Republican candidate asked in New Hampshire, and “Let me tell you what I'd like to tell you: Vote for love of country. It is time we lead America to a better place."

With their eyes on the finish line in an election down to a fierce finish, President Obama and Mr Mitt Romney are rolling their sleeves for the final 72-hour relentless quest for victory giving Americans final bait as to which candidate has the best offer on the economy, healthcare, education and jobs.

More than anything, job reports are shaping the end of the campaign.

No longer is the fresh voice of change, President Obama racing across the swing states asking anxious delegates to let him finish the job he started in 2009.

While seeking the mandate in 2008, President Obama anchored his bid on the message of hope and change but this time, he will run on his record as well..

That means voters will evaluate him on what he has achieved. The rallying point of the Obama campaign administration upon which he could be retained includes the Affordable Care Act (2010).

A monumental achievement, according to a Mr Kofi Duah, a Ghanaian taxi driver in Atlanta, “If I should vote in this election, that policy will be a major reason,” he said waiting passengers around the World’s largest aquarium.

The policy is a landmark as after five presidents over a century had failed to create universal health insurance for Americans.It will cover 32 million uninsured Americans beginning in 2014 and draws a number of experimental measures to reduce health care cost growth, the number one reason of America’s long-term fiscal problems.

For Mrs Fancy Burnnet, a Ghanaian resident in Lawrenceville, Atlanta,  her vote is certainly for Obama.

She said the healthcare policy was the best as it eliminate pre-existing conditions.

According to her, she had been a victim of the pre-existing condition where she was denied medical care by her private insurance company because the policy did not cover it“That is what the new policy is eliminating.

While making a case for Obama’s re-election, Mrs Burnette said “I don’t belive Romney cares for the country as he wants us to believe. He comes from a rich home and has not struggled. Obama has and knows what it feels like to be on the welfare.”

 

She also found fault with Mr Romney’s proposals that college students should borrow from their parents instead of looking up to the Federal government for support.

“I have children and I know what it means to look for funding for education,” she added.

In 2009,  the Obama administration injection of some  $62 billion in federal money (on top of $13.4 billion in loans from the Bush administration) into the purse of  struggling automakers--  GM and Chrysler in return for equity stakes and agreements for massive restructuring has added s more than 100,000 jobs to the American economy, according to the Washington Monthly Magazine. In 2011, the Big Three automakers all gained market share for the first time in two decades.

But that notwithstanding, Mr Romney has been on the attack in ad hoping to dim Obama’s romance with the auto industry employees, the Romney ad begins, “Who will do more for the auto industry? Not Barack Obama.” It continues, “Fact checkers confirm his attacks on Mitt Romney are false.” 

The Romney ad goes on to state: “Obama took G.M. and Chrysler into bankruptcy, and sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China. Mitt Romney will fight for every American job.”

Obama responded swiftly at a campaign in Ohio telling voters that Tuesday’s election is "not just a choice between two candidates or two parties, it's a choice between two different visions for America." 

He criticized Romney for what he said were misleading ads suggesting that automakers were shifting U.S. jobs to China.

"You want to know that your president means what he says and says what he means," Obama told cheering supporters.

On the foreign front, the Obama administration managed to eliminate Osama Bin Laden who remained largely elusive even during former President Bush’s war on terror. But his handling of the Libyan crisis has drawn sharp criticism from his opponents.

Some 27 million Americans already have cast ballots around the country in an early voting.

But turnout in the election according to Gallup polls is expected to be low even prior to the devastating super-storm hurricane sandy which swept across the East Coast including New York and New Jersey

As to whether Obama can eclipse the strong challenge from Romney to retain power remains to be seen as poll after poll shows a very tight race.