Both Campaigns Battle for Swing States
BANFIELD: Ohio is the door you have to walk through to get to the majestic halls of the White House. At least, historically, that's the case and it's why campaigns have spends so many millions of dollars trying to swing the voters to their side in that state. Here's a snapshot of where Ohio stands right now, at least according to the poll. And the latest CNN poll of polls has the president with a three-point lead now over Governor Romney. And there is no sampling error in that, we should explain, as well, because it's a poll of polls. Plenty of sampling errors in different polls that merge into that poll of polls. Here's what we also know. Five days left before the election. Both camps have deployed the best ground troops they can possibly muster, all in the effort to get face time with potential voters. And our Don Lemon has been very busy on this story.</s>DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The front line on the Ohio battleground, cold, soggy and gray. But neither snow nor sleet nor bad directions -- (on camera): Are you lost now?</s>SEAN HENNINGER, VOLUNTEER: Oh, yes.</s>LEMON (voice-over): -- shall keep these volunteers from their appointed route. Why are you doing this?</s>HENNING: I do it to support Governor Romney.</s>LEMON: When college sophomore and first-time voter Sean Henning isn't in class or working, he's driving. Walking -- (on camera): This your next one?</s>HENNING: Yes.</s>LEMON (voice-over): -- knocking -- and talking to voters.</s>HENNING: When you were going to vote, if you were going to go in earlier, like on Election Day?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going on Election Day.</s>LEMON (on camera): Is it worth it? It's cold. It's rainy. Some people slam the door in your face, others don't. Some people are receptive. Is it worth it?</s>HENNING: In the long run, hopefully it will be. If I see my man Romney as president, yes.</s>LEMON (voice-over): But President Romney is the last thing Beth Keith (ph) wants. She says she has a pre-existing medical condition, so she put on her boots, put her jewelry business on hold last summer to volunteer full-time to make sure President Obama and his health care plan stay put. BETH KEITH (ph),</s>VOLUNTEER: Are you voting for the president in the re-election?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I do.</s>AD ANNOUNCER: Romney doesn't have what it takes.</s>LEMON: Both campaigns say, in these critical final moments, they need people like Beth and Sean.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: See your taxes go up.</s>LEMON: And other dedicated volunteers because of the barrage of negative ads and robocalls have run their course. (on camera): So it's about personal contact.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes. Person-to-person, not robocall, not mass mailing. What's important to you, and what can I say about that subject.</s>LEMON: You don't get more personal than Gail and Matt Calfree (ph).</s>BANFIELD: I want to take you live to Green Bay where the president has now deplaned from Air Force One and he is in front of the mic. Let's listen in.</s>OBAMA: -- Green Bay, Wisconsin!</s>OBAMA: I want to thank all of you for giving such a warm welcome to a Bears fan.</s>OBAMA: And I especially want to thank one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history for being here today, Charles Woodson!</s>OBAMA: And I want to thank Charles, because I understand he made an announcement about a gift to the Red Cross to help support everybody over on the east coast. And that's the kind of guy he is. So we're grateful to him. Thank you, Charles.</s>OBAMA: Let's also give it up for your next United States Senator, Tammy Baldwin.</s>OBAMA: She's going to be following leaders like Herb Cole and Ross Feingold in being fierce fighters for the people of Wisconsin.</s>OBAMA: Now, for the past few days, all of us have been focused on one of the worst storms in our lifetimes. And we're awed and humbled by nature's destructive power. We mourn the loss of so many people. Our hearts go out to those who lost their loved ones. We pledge to help those whose lives have been turned upside down. And I was out in New Jersey yesterday and saw the devastation, and you really get a sense of, you know, how difficult this is going to be for a lot of people. But we've also been inspired these past few days. Because when disaster strikes, we've seen America at its best. All the petty difference that consumes us all seem to melt away. There are no Democrats or Republicans during a storm. They're just fellow Americans.</s>OBAMA: Leaders of different parties working to fix what's broken. Neighbors helping neighbors cope with tragedy. Communities rallying to rebuild. A spirit that says, in the end, we're all in this together. So we rise or fall as one nation, as one people.</s>OBAMA: While that spirit has guided this country along its improbable journey for more than two centuries, it's carried us through the trials of the last four years. In 2008, we were in the middle of two wars and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Today our businesses have created over five million new jobs.</s>OBAMA: The American auto industry is back on top.</s>OBAMA: American manufacturing is growing at the fastest pace in 15 years.</s>OBAMA: We're less dependent on foreign oil than at any time in 20 years.</s>OBAMA: Home values are on the rise. Thanks to the service and sacrifice of our brave men and women in uniform, the war in Iraq is over.</s>OBAMA: The war in Afghanistan is winding down.</s>OBAMA: Al Qaeda has been decimated.</s>OBAMA: Osama bin Laden is dead.</s>OBAMA: So we've made real progress these past four years. But, Wisconsin, we know our work is not done yet. As long as there's a single American who wants a job but can't find one, our work isn't done. As long as there are families who are working harder but falling behind, our work isn't done. As long as there's a child languishing in poverty, barred from opportunity anywhere in this country, our work is not yet done.</s>OBAMA: Our fight goes on, because we know this nation cannot succeed without a growing, thriving middle class, and strong, sturdy ladders into the middle class. Our fight goes on because America has always done its best when everybody gets a fair shot, and everybody is doing their fair share, and everybody is playing by the same rules.</s>OBAMA: That's what we believe. That's why you elected me in 2008. And that's why I'm running for a second term as president, because we have got more work to do.</s>OBAMA: Now -- now, we knew from the beginning that our work would take more than one year, or even one term. Because let's face it, the middle class was getting hammered, long before the financial crisis hit. Technology made us more productive but it also made a lot of good jobs obsolete. Global trade brought us cheaper products, but it also allowed companies to hire in low-wage countries. American workers saw their paychecks squeezed, even as corporate profits rose and CEOs' salaries exploded and pensions and health care slowly started disappearing. And these fundamental changes in the economy, the rise of technology and global competition, they're real. We can't wish these and global competition. But here's what I know, Wisconsin, we can meet them --</s>OBAMA: -- because we're Americans, and we have the world's best workers and the best entrepreneurs. We have the best scientists and the best researchers, the best colleges and universities, and we've got the most innovative spirit.</s>OBAMA: We have everything we need to thrive in this new economy, in this new century, and there's not a country in the earth that wouldn't change places with the United States of America.</s>OBAMA: But we have a choice to make. In five days, we will choose our next president.</s>OBAMA: And it's more than just a choice between two candidates or two parties. You'll be making a choice between two fundamentally different visions of America, one where we return to the top-down policies that crashed our economy.</s>OBAMA: Don't boo, Wisconsin. Vote.</s>OBAMA: Or a future that's built on the strong and middle class. .</s>OBAMA: Wisconsin, we know what the choice needs to be. We're here today because we believe that if this country invests in the skills and ideas of its people, then good jobs and businesses will follow. We believe that America's free market has been the engine of America's progress, driven by risk takers and innovators and dreamers, but we also understand that, in this country, people succeed when they've got a chance to get a good education and learn new skills. And, by the way, so do the businesses that hire those people or the companies that those folks start. We believe that when we support research and the medical breakthroughs or new technology, that entire new industries will start here and stay here and hire here. We don't believe government should poke its nose into everything we do, but we do believe this country is stronger when there are rules to protect our kids from toxic dumping and mercury pollution. .</s>OBAMA: When there are rules to protect consumers and ordinary families from credit card companies that are engaging in deceptive practices, mortgage lenders that are unscrupulous. .</s>OBAMA: We grow faster when our tax code rewards hard work and companies that create jobs here in America. .</s>OBAMA: And we believe that quality affordable health care and a dignified retirement aren't just achievable goals, but they're a measure of our values as a nation. .</s>OBAMA: That's what we believe. Now, for eight years we had a president who shared these beliefs. His name was Bill Clinton. .</s>OBAMA: When he was first elected, he asked the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more so we could reduce the deficit and still make investments in things like education and training, science and research. And, guess what, plenty of folks who were running for Congress at the time said it would hurt the economy, that it would kill jobs. And if that argument sounds familiar, one of those candidates back then happens to be running for president right now.</s>OBAMA: Because by the end of Bill Clinton's second term, America had created 23 million new jobs and incomes were up and property was down, and our deficit became the biggest surplus in our history. So, Wisconsin, we know the ideas that work. We also know the ideas that don't work. In the eight years after Bill Clinton left office, his policies were reversed. Americans got tax cuts they didn't need and we couldn't afford. Companies enjoyed tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas. Insurance companies and oil companies and Wall Street were given free license to do what they pleased. Folks, at the top got to play by a different set of rules than the rest of us. The results of this top-down economics was falling income, record deficits, the slowest job growth in half a century and an economic crisis that we've been cleaning up for the last four years. Now, in the closing weeks of this campaign, Governor Romney has been using all his talents as a salesman to dress up these very same policies that failed our country so badly, the very same policies we've been cleaning up after for the past four years, and he is offering them up as change. He is saying he is the candidate of change. Well, let me tell you, Wisconsin, we know what change looks like. .</s>OBAMA: And what the governor is offering sure ain't change. .</s>OBAMA: Getting more power back to the biggest banks isn't change. Leaving millions without health insurance isn't change. .</s>OBAMA: Another $5 trillion tax cut that favors the wealthy isn't change.</s>OBAMA: Turning Medicare into a voucher is change, but we don't want that change.</s>OBAMA: Here's the thing, Wisconsin. After four years as president, you know me by now. You may not agree with every decision I've made, you may be frustrated at the pace of change, but you know what I believe. You know where I stand. You know I'm willing to make tough decisions even when they're not politically convenient. .</s>OBAMA: And you know I'll fight for you and your families every single day as hard as I know how. You know that. .</s>OBAMA: I know what things look like because I have fought for it. You have too. After all we've been through together, we sure as heck can't give up now.</s>OBAMA: Change is a country where Americans of every age have the skills and education that good jobs now require. Government can't do this alone, but don't tell me that hiring more teachers won't help this economy grow or help young people compete.</s>OBAMA: Don't tell me that students who can't afford college can just borrow money from their parents. .</s>OBAMA: That wasn't an option for me. I'll bet it wasn't an option for a whole lot of you. We shouldn't be ending college tax credits to pay for millionaire tax cuts. We should be making college more affordable for everyone who is willing to work for it.</s>OBAMA: We should recruit 100,000 math and science teachers so that high-tech jobs aren't created in China. They're created right here in Green Bay, Wisconsin.</s>OBAMA: We should work with community colleges to claim another two million Americans with skills that businesses are looking for right now. That's my plan for the future. That's what change is. That's the America we're fighting for in this election. Change comes when we live up to our legacy of innovation and make America home to the next generation of manufacturing, scientific discovery, technological breakthroughs. I'm proud I bet on American workers and American ingenuity and the American auto industry.</s>OBAMA: Today, we're not just building cars again. We're building better cars, cars that, by the middle of the next decade, will go twice as far on a gallon of gas.</s>OBAMA: Today, there are thousands of workers building long-lasting batteries and wind turbines and solar panels all across the country. Jobs that weren't there four years ago. And, sure, not all technologies we bet on will pan out. Some of the businesses we encourage will fail. But I promise you this, there is a future for manufacturing here in America.</s>OBAMA: There's a future for clean energy here in America.</s>OBAMA: And I refuse to see that future in other countries. He don't want tax codes rewarding companies for creating jobs overseas. I want to reward companies that create jobs here in America.</s>OBAMA: I don't want a tax code that subsidizes oil company profits. I want to support the energy jobs of tomorrow and the new technology that is will cut our oil imports in half. That's my plan for jobs and growth. That's the future of America that I see. Change is finally turning a page on a decade of war to do some nation building here at home.</s>OBAMA: So long as I'm commander-in-chief, we will pursue our enemies with the strongest military the world has ever known.</s>OBAMA: But it's time to use the savings for mending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and start paying down our debts here and rebuilding America. Right now, we can put people back to work fixing up roads and bridges. Right now, we can expand broadband into rural neighborhoods and make sure our schools are state-of-the-art. Let's put Americans back to work doing the work that needs to be done. And let's especially focus on our veterans because no one who fights for this country should have to fight for a job or a roof over their heads or the care that they need when they come home.</s>OBAMA: That's my plan to keep us strong. That's my commitment to you. And that's what is at stake in this election. Now, change is a future where we reduce our deficit in a way that's balanced and responsible. I signed $1 trillion worth of spending cuts. I intend to do more. I'll work with both parties to streamline agencies and get rid of programs that don't work.