Romney Out-Hustling Obama on the Campaign Trail
by Keith Koffler on October 19, 2012, 8:28 am
Gov. Mitt Romney is spending far more time campaigning than President Obama, staging 16 campaign rallies and speeches compared to only 9 by Obama so far this month, according to a White House Dossier analysis of their schedules.
Obama had held only six events through October 16. With his recent decline in the polls, the president is suddenly making up for lost time, holding three events in the last two days. He is appearing at another today in Fairfax, Virginia. Romney holds a rally this evening with running mate Paul Ryan.
Obama has been off the campaign trail a total of about a week this month preparing for the first two debates, with mixed results. He flopped in the first debate after three days of study.
The figures are for traditional campaigning and do not include fundraisers done by the candidates.
Romney’s campaign travel has focused intensely on two swing states – Virginia and Ohio. Eleven of his sixteen appearances have been in one of the two, with seven stops in Virginia and four in the Buckeye State.
Obama also has focused on the two states, making three appearances in Ohio and two in Virginia.
Both candidates have also been to Colorado, Iowa and Florida. Obama has not held a rally this month in North Carolina, the state where he held his convention but which appears to be slipping from his grasp, while Romney was there Oct. 11. Obama has been to New Hampshire and Wisconsin this month for rallies, but Romney has not.
Obama is approaching his reelection very differently than George W. Bush did eight years ago. Bush barnstormed the nation in October 2004, holding nearly 30 rallies between the first of the month and the eighteenth. Bush also made two appearances for other GOP candidates and held a brief impromptu question and answer session with reporters.
Unlike Obama and Romney, Bush continued to campaign in the days leading up to his debates with Sen. John Kerry.