Presidential candidate Mitt Romney was renewing his focus on the nation's economy today amid pressure to break his silence on a Republican Party Senate candidate's statement that any pregnancy resulting from rape is "something God intended."
With the election day looming less than two weeks away, Romney also tried to move past new questions about his role in a key supporter's divorce. Court documents released yesterday reveal that Romney created a special class of company stock for Staples founder Tom Stemberg's then wife as a "favour."
Romney has so far ignored the criticism and instead accused President Barack Obama of playing partisan politics in an "incredibly shrinking campaign."
Opinion polls show Obama and Romney tied nationally. A new Associated Press-GfK poll of likely voters had Romney up 47% to 45%, a result within the poll's margin of sampling error.
The race's recurrent theme, the economy, was to play prominently in the presidential campaign events yet again today.
As Obama takes a break from the campaign trail, Romney was to deliver what his campaign billed as a significant economic address in swing state of Iowa. While he was not expected to break new ground, his campaign said Romney would use the speech to help crystalise the differences between each candidate's economic approach on the same day the government issues its final report on gross domestic product growth before the November 6 election.
The report, set for release at 8:30 am (local time), was expected to show that growth picked up only slightly in the third quarter.
Tepid growth has given Romney an opening to challenge Obama's assessment that the economy is moving in the right direction.
Obama arrived back in Washington late last night following a 40-hour battleground state blitz that took him to eight states. He was taking a brief break from the campaign trail today and planned to spend much of the day at the White House.
Obama had a series of interviews scheduled today, including several with local television stations in swing states. The president was also using a trio of national interviews to reach key constituencies, including an MTV interview aimed at rallying the youth vote and a sit-down with American Urban Radio Networks, which has a largely black audience.
