[h=3]By PATRICK O'CONNOR and COLLEEN MCCAIN NELSON[/h]
ReutersGOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney greets supporters at a campaign rally at Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio, on Friday.
For Mitt Romney, good news came Friday with word that President Barack Obama had added a stop to his travel schedule next week. For the first time this election season, Mr. Obama will campaign in Wisconsin, a confirmation that the traditionally Democratic state is now in play.
Mr. Romney could use more such tactical victories. A series of polls in recent weeks has shown that he is not solidifying support in many of the states he needs to win, leaving him a narrow path to a majority in the Electoral College.
Of nine states that have swung between the parties in recent elections, the Republican presidential nominee holds a clear lead only in one, North Carolina. He trails in the two largest swing states—Florida and Ohio—as well as in Virginia, new Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist Poll surveys released Thursday found.
Some Romney supporters acknowledge the uneasiness other Republicans harbor about the race, even while they remain optimistic. "It's a good thing that people are concerned," said Brian Ballard, a Florida lawyer and leading fundraiser for Mr. Romney. "Complacency would kill us.''
In the face of the recent polling, the Romney campaign is putting forward this strategy: It is returning its focus to the economy, adding money to its ad buys in several battleground states and eyeing a breakthrough moment at the debates with Mr. Obama next month.
And while Mr. Obama leads in many polls, the Romney team is focusing on the mark the president is not hitting: He's just at 50% support in many states, or slightly below it.
"We have a very clear, steady path to victory," said Stuart Stevens, Mr. Romney's top strategist. "The Obama bump is fading very fast.…They can't get the majority of the country to vote for them."
Kevin Madden, a top adviser to the Republican nominee, said voters' opinions have "calcified" into a pessimistic view of the economy, giving Mr. Romney a clear opening, particularly among undecided voters. "That's our challenge, and that's our opportunity," Mr. Madden said in an interview on "DC Bureau," the Journal's online politics show. "We have to really make our case that Gov. Romney has a better vision for the country going forward, that he's the better choice for fixing the economy."
Ben LaBolt, an Obama campaign spokesman, said: "We've said all along we expect this race to be close and competitive, but we've emerged with a small but important lead in key states as the choice starts to crystallize—a president with a clear plan to restore economic security for the middle class or a governor who'd return to the same policies that crashed the economy and devastated the middle class."
Mr. Romney started spending money on television ads in Wisconsin this week, confirming a long-held suspicion the race there has tightened since Mr. Romney tapped Rep. Paul Ryan, a native son, as his running mate. Apparently worried about Republican success, Mr. Obama also began spending ad money in the state.
Still, in the weeks since Mr. Romney exited his party's national convention, signs of headway by his campaign have been limited.
Republican super PACs spent millions of dollars on ads in an attempt to boost Mr. Romney's chances in Michigan and Pennsylvania, two Democratic- leaning states that showed signs of changing their colors this year. But those ads stopped several weeks ago, and the super PACs say they are in the process of evaluating which states are truly competitive.
Fundraising is still a major component of both candidates' schedules, and one that limits the time for retail campaigning. This week, Mr. Romney has held no more than one public event on most days—with none on Wednesday and no events scheduled for Saturday. Next week's schedule takes Mr. Romney to fundraising events in California, Georgia and Texas—all states not considered in play.
Mr. Obama generally has kept a more intensive campaign schedule. He spent three days in Iowa earlier this summer and has since returned to the state twice, a level of saturation that Mr. Romney has not emulated. Rallies and other local events generate local press coverage that is often more positive than what appears in national news outlets.
While the latest round of polls giving the president a post-convention bump has some Republicans in battleground states saying they are nervous, they also are confident of a win.
Some cite two data points for their optimism: the underlying sourness of the economy, and Ronald Reagan's come-from-behind win over President Jimmy Carter in 1980 after performing well in the debates.
"The most important advice I'd offer now is, 'Don't panic,'" said Matt Borges, executive director of the Ohio Republican Party and a longtime political operative in the state. "Obama's convention bounce is dissipating, and there are still many reasons to believe Romney will win Ohio and win the election."Mr. Borges is convinced that public polls continue to misgauge the enthusiasm and likely turnout of Republican voters in Ohio, where the state GOP is waging a far more aggressive get-out-the-vote effort than it did in 2008.
In Florida, former GOP chairman Al Cardenas says Mr. Romney faces an uphill battle in the state but will win if he overcomes several challenges.
One is a disconnect in messages between the Romney campaign and the more upbeat portrayal of local economies by Republican governors in Florida, Ohio and Virginia. The Journal's polls in those states this week showed voters there not only favored Mr. Obama but were more upbeat about the country's direction than are voters nationally.At the same time, Mr. Cardenas said, Mr. Romney has to keep his core pitch focused on the economy, even during a week of upheaval overseas.
"There is no way to control what happens in Egypt, but the reality is we have now had three days of being off-message,'' he said, referring to campaign discussion this week of foreign policy.
Mr. Ballard, the Florida fundraiser, who also raised money in 2008 for GOP nominee Sen. John McCain, said Mr. Romney will benefit from growing unease among Jewish voters in South Florida who have begun questioning the president's commitment to Israel.
"The whole anti-Israel thing is starting to take root," Mr. Ballard said. "He's got some structural problems that he can't fix in two months."
—Neil King Jr. contributed to this article.Write to Colleen McCain Nelson at [email protected]
A version of this article appeared September 14, 2012, on page A4 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Romney Sees Opening in Wisconsin.
For Mitt Romney, good news came Friday with word that President Barack Obama had added a stop to his travel schedule next week. For the first time this election season, Mr. Obama will campaign in Wisconsin, a confirmation that the traditionally Democratic state is now in play.
Mr. Romney could use more such tactical victories. A series of polls in recent weeks has shown that he is not solidifying support in many of the states he needs to win, leaving him a narrow path to a majority in the Electoral College.
Of nine states that have swung between the parties in recent elections, the Republican presidential nominee holds a clear lead only in one, North Carolina. He trails in the two largest swing states—Florida and Ohio—as well as in Virginia, new Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist Poll surveys released Thursday found.
Some Romney supporters acknowledge the uneasiness other Republicans harbor about the race, even while they remain optimistic. "It's a good thing that people are concerned," said Brian Ballard, a Florida lawyer and leading fundraiser for Mr. Romney. "Complacency would kill us.''
In the face of the recent polling, the Romney campaign is putting forward this strategy: It is returning its focus to the economy, adding money to its ad buys in several battleground states and eyeing a breakthrough moment at the debates with Mr. Obama next month.
And while Mr. Obama leads in many polls, the Romney team is focusing on the mark the president is not hitting: He's just at 50% support in many states, or slightly below it.
"We have a very clear, steady path to victory," said Stuart Stevens, Mr. Romney's top strategist. "The Obama bump is fading very fast.…They can't get the majority of the country to vote for them."
Kevin Madden, a top adviser to the Republican nominee, said voters' opinions have "calcified" into a pessimistic view of the economy, giving Mr. Romney a clear opening, particularly among undecided voters. "That's our challenge, and that's our opportunity," Mr. Madden said in an interview on "DC Bureau," the Journal's online politics show. "We have to really make our case that Gov. Romney has a better vision for the country going forward, that he's the better choice for fixing the economy."
Ben LaBolt, an Obama campaign spokesman, said: "We've said all along we expect this race to be close and competitive, but we've emerged with a small but important lead in key states as the choice starts to crystallize—a president with a clear plan to restore economic security for the middle class or a governor who'd return to the same policies that crashed the economy and devastated the middle class."
Mr. Romney started spending money on television ads in Wisconsin this week, confirming a long-held suspicion the race there has tightened since Mr. Romney tapped Rep. Paul Ryan, a native son, as his running mate. Apparently worried about Republican success, Mr. Obama also began spending ad money in the state.
Still, in the weeks since Mr. Romney exited his party's national convention, signs of headway by his campaign have been limited.
Republican super PACs spent millions of dollars on ads in an attempt to boost Mr. Romney's chances in Michigan and Pennsylvania, two Democratic- leaning states that showed signs of changing their colors this year. But those ads stopped several weeks ago, and the super PACs say they are in the process of evaluating which states are truly competitive.
Fundraising is still a major component of both candidates' schedules, and one that limits the time for retail campaigning. This week, Mr. Romney has held no more than one public event on most days—with none on Wednesday and no events scheduled for Saturday. Next week's schedule takes Mr. Romney to fundraising events in California, Georgia and Texas—all states not considered in play.
Mr. Obama generally has kept a more intensive campaign schedule. He spent three days in Iowa earlier this summer and has since returned to the state twice, a level of saturation that Mr. Romney has not emulated. Rallies and other local events generate local press coverage that is often more positive than what appears in national news outlets.
While the latest round of polls giving the president a post-convention bump has some Republicans in battleground states saying they are nervous, they also are confident of a win.
Some cite two data points for their optimism: the underlying sourness of the economy, and Ronald Reagan's come-from-behind win over President Jimmy Carter in 1980 after performing well in the debates.
"The most important advice I'd offer now is, 'Don't panic,'" said Matt Borges, executive director of the Ohio Republican Party and a longtime political operative in the state. "Obama's convention bounce is dissipating, and there are still many reasons to believe Romney will win Ohio and win the election."Mr. Borges is convinced that public polls continue to misgauge the enthusiasm and likely turnout of Republican voters in Ohio, where the state GOP is waging a far more aggressive get-out-the-vote effort than it did in 2008.
In Florida, former GOP chairman Al Cardenas says Mr. Romney faces an uphill battle in the state but will win if he overcomes several challenges.
One is a disconnect in messages between the Romney campaign and the more upbeat portrayal of local economies by Republican governors in Florida, Ohio and Virginia. The Journal's polls in those states this week showed voters there not only favored Mr. Obama but were more upbeat about the country's direction than are voters nationally.At the same time, Mr. Cardenas said, Mr. Romney has to keep his core pitch focused on the economy, even during a week of upheaval overseas.
"There is no way to control what happens in Egypt, but the reality is we have now had three days of being off-message,'' he said, referring to campaign discussion this week of foreign policy.
Mr. Ballard, the Florida fundraiser, who also raised money in 2008 for GOP nominee Sen. John McCain, said Mr. Romney will benefit from growing unease among Jewish voters in South Florida who have begun questioning the president's commitment to Israel.
"The whole anti-Israel thing is starting to take root," Mr. Ballard said. "He's got some structural problems that he can't fix in two months."
—Neil King Jr. contributed to this article.Write to Colleen McCain Nelson at [email protected]
A version of this article appeared September 14, 2012, on page A4 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Romney Sees Opening in Wisconsin.