After months of speeches, dozens of diner visits, hundreds of thousands of commercials and, by one estimate, $6 billion spent by the campaigns and outside groups, the race is still too close to call.
Mitt Romney promised Americans that under his leadership the country would rediscover its greatness, after languishing under Barack Obama for four years.
Under a slogan of “Real Change from Day One” – a deliberate dig at the president’s winning mantra from 2008 - the Republican contender said that his rival’s “big government” policies had failed.
“If there is anybody who fears the American dream is fading away, I have a message for you: America is about to come roaring back,” he said at his first rally of the day in New Hampshire, one of the closest swing states.
“President Obama is offering excuses, I am offering a plan. He is asking Americans to settle [for what they have got]. But Americans don’t settle, we dream, we aspire and we achieve great things.”
Mr Romney is now the candidate offering a sense of hope, prosperity and unity, while the president is visibly on the defensive.
“I will not just represent one party, I will represent one nation,” Mr Romney said. » | Alex Spillius, Portsmouth, New Hampshire | Saturday, November 03, 2012
