U.S. election goes down to the wire: Obama and Romney target key states in last-minute scramble for votes

Barack Obama and Mitt Romney go to the polls neck and neck tomorrow after a final sprint through crucial states where the result – as in the country as a whole – is too close to call.

Poll after poll over the weekend confirmed it would be one of the closest presidential elections in US history, putting the two White House contenders in a dead heat.

The pair were neck and neck in four swing states which are likely to determine the winner of the White House, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

How the voting battleground could shape up coast to coast

In one of the biggest prizes of the election, Ohio, Mr Obama has a slight lead over Mr Romney with 48 per cent compared to 44 per cent support among likely voters, the poll showed. On Saturday Mr Obama had been ahead by a point in the same poll.

In Florida, another big prize, Mr Obama was on 48 per cent and Mr Romney on 46 per cent.

Rally: Mitt Romney waves to the Republican faithful in Cleveland, Ohio, as he pushes for votes in the crucial swing state

In Virginia, Mr Obama leads Mr Romney 47 per cent to 46 per cent among likely voters. In Colorado, the candidates were tied.

Nationally, 48 per cent said they would vote for Mr Obama and 47 per cent for Mr Romney. Given the closeness of the race, it means the result is now down to which party can ensure their supporters get to polling stations in the ten or so ‘battleground’ states.

More than 27million people have already voted in 34 states and the District of Columbia. So far, Democratic voters outnumber Republicans in Florida, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio. Republicans have the edge in only one swing state, Colorado, which Mr Obama won in 2008.

Both sides said they were confident of victory as their candidates flitted back and forth across the US trying to fit in as many target states as possible.

But in what Republicans claimed was an illustration of Mr Romney’s growing popularity – and Democrats said was a ‘desperate ploy’ to stave off defeat – the challenger has started targeting states that were previously seen as safely pro-Obama.

Yesterday Mr Romney not only stopped off in swing states Virginia and Ohio, but also in Pennsylvania and Iowa, two states where Democrats have far more registered supporters.

Speaking in Des Moines, Iowa, Mr Romney said the President had fallen short of his promises and vowed the country was ‘two days from a new beginning’ and ‘a better future’.

He told supporters: ‘We’re Americans. We can do anything. The only thing that stands between us and some of the best years we can imagine is a lack of leadership – and that’s why we have elections.’

Making use of the presidential plane, Air Force One, Mr Obama was able to spend yesterday stopping off in four battleground states – New Hampshire, Florida, Ohio and Colorado.

He has been joined in these final rallies by Bill Clinton, who has put aside his previous bitterness at the way Mr Obama deprived his wife Hillary of the 2008 party nomination.

Joined by Mr Clinton in front of a roaring crowd in Concord, New Hampshire, Mr Obama once again tried to compare his economic policies with those of the previous Democrat President.

Go-go Mr president: Supporters greet Barack Obama during a rally at McArthur High School in Hollywood, Florida as he criss-crossed America today

He said: ‘We have come too far to turn back now. We have come too far to let our hearts grow faint. It’s time to keep pushing forward.’

On Saturday night in Virginia, Mr Clinton attacked Mr Romney’s habit of shifting positions on key issues, saying: ‘He could be the chief contortionist for Cirque du Soleil.’

Despite the narrow gap separating the candidates in most polls, Mr Obama is clinging to a narrow lead in a majority of swing states. Most pundits suspect this will give him a crucial advantage tomorrow.

Attention remains focused on one battleground state above all others. According to the number crunchers, Mr Romney will find it very difficult to win the 270 votes he needs in the electoral college that decides the victor unless he carries Ohio.

But polls have shown this midwestern state, many of whose voters rely for jobs on a car industry which the President bailed out, remains in favour of Mr Obama by at least three percentage points.

More than eight in ten voters across the globe would keep Mr Obama as President if they had a say in the US elections, a major poll has found.

The MSN survey of more than 570,000 people in 36 countries found that only 19 per cent favoured Mr Romney.

The only country that preferred him was China, giving him 52 per cent of the vote. In Britain, Mr Obama took 85 per cent of the vote.

n  Up to 40,000 people in New York will need to be rehoused in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. State governor Andrew Cuomo said the ‘massive, massive housing problem’ could take months to resolve. Last Monday’s storm left 107 dead in the eastern US

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