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[NRaleighLiberal]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/01/michael-tomasky-on-how-obama-can-seal-the-deal-in-the-final-days.html

Michael Tomasky on How Obama Can Seal the Deal in the Final Days
by Michael Tomasky Nov 1, 2012 4:45 AM EDT

Sandy has stopped Mitt’s momentum cold and transferred it to the president. Michael Tomasky on what Obama needs to do in the final days

"The picture is taking shape. It’s still early for predictions—I’ll do that over the weekend or Monday. But let me put it this way. While there are certainly a few known unknowns, and always the possibility of the emergence of one more unknown unknown, I’d sure rather be Barack Obama right now than Mitt Romney. Sandy (and Chris Christie) stopped Romney’s momentum cold and put some wind (so to speak) behind the president’s back. Consider: Thirteen swing state polls came out on Wednesday. Obama led in 11. Romney is on the mat. Now Obama needs to step on his neck and put this thing away. He can do this in five ways.

First, hit the trail furiously. He’s back in campaign mode as of Thursday morning. I don’t know where he’s going, but he should obviously hit Ohio, Iowa, Colorado, and Virginia. He should make one stop in Michigan to batten it down (Wisconsin looks safe, as does Pennsylvania), and maybe New Hampshire. And he should make a new push into North Carolina. That will be seen as a power move—testing Romney’s little Confederate Maginot Line, as it were, reopening the conversation in a state that had been seen as red but is now up for grabs. It’ll probably go to Romney at the end of the day, but Obama can make him sweat it out, and who knows, with the right kind of turnout, maybe pick it off.

Florida? Let Joe Biden and Bill Clinton take care of south Florida. The alter kockers are more their crowd. Obama needs to hit the I-4 corridor, where the white swing voters and the Puerto Ricans (and plenty enough African Americans) live, with a huge weekend rally, probably in Tampa. He carried Tampa’s Hillsborough County 50-48 last time, and if he can replicate that, he has a shot at Florida, which would crush Romney.

Campaign, campaign, campaign. Get hoarse. Get tired. As I wrote in my cover piece, drop any hint of “I Got This” Obama and be hungry."

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