vice president joe biden on stage in lancaster, ohio. i'm sure your going to hear from him when anderson coop and wolf blitzer pick up our election coverage right now. see you at 10. the presidential race has been won by governor ronald reagan of california. >> george herbert walker bush, xli president of the united states. >> governor clinton is now president bill clinton. >> too close to call. >> there it is, george w. bush re-elected. >> barack obama, president-elect of the united states. >> this is cnn. right now, barack obama and mitt romney, they are trying to close the deal with voters in battleground states. >> stand by for our new presidential poll as we count down the last crucial hours until election day. >> tonight, the final frantic

race for president before voters have their say. >> four more years. four more years. >> romney. romney. romney. >> mitt romney and barack obama, ending a long and close campaign. >> do you want more of the same or do you want change? >> fighting for every vote until the bitter end. >> we know what change looks like. and what he's offering ain't it. >> this hour, our last presidential poll before election day, the candidates' 11th hour game plans and the possibility of a stunning cliffhanger. >> this is the time to elect a leader. >> i'd like to win this thing earlier than later. >> now, cnn's count down to election day the fight for the president circumstance the battle for congress, and the issues dividing the nation. >> i still believe in you. and you still believe in me. i'm asking for your vote. >> i need to you go out there and find people that will come join our cause. >> it's your vote, your future, your country, your choice.

♪ >> we're down to less than two days before the election. barack obama and mitt romney, they are racing from one battleground state to the next. they are trying to beat the clock. right now the president is in ohio, his third state so far today with colorado still to come. mitt romney's heading for virginia, his fourth state of the day. we'd like to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer in the cnn election center. up first tonight, the results of cnn's final national poll before the election and it can't get any tighter than this. look at this. a 49-49% tie, a tie among likely voters, given the poll sampling error, the popular vote could still go obviously either way. 96% of those surveyed say their

minds are made up. but even now, 4% of likely voters out there say they could still change their minds. and look at this, registered voters in both parties are equally enthusiastic, 70% of democrats and republicans say they are extremely or very enthusiastic about voting. in the end, who whips the popular vote isn't as important as the race to collect the 270 electoral college votes that will determine the white house. our chief national correspondent, john king is over here. he's at the magic wall. the popular vote is one thing. the battleground states, john, very different. >> buff to say, wow, we have a dead heat, a nail-biter going into the last 48 hours. the one thing we are going to get with certainty, not going to get a map like. this the president had a blowout election, won with 53% of the vote four years ago. turned nine red states blue. say with certainty, that's not going to happen this year. a much more competitive battlefield. the question what happens here? we elect a president state by statement the race is to 270 w

48 thundershowers go, here is how we see it, 237. those are the blue states, light and dark blue, strong or leaning the president's way. 206, those are the red states or they look pink if they are leaning. governor romney's way. you can say this, wolf, no one has an easy path to 270. the president has an easier path to 270. the three final rallies what he says his final campaign will be held in iowa, wisconsin and ohio. if the president can win just those three states and nothing else on the map changes, look at that he wins re-election. governor romney could runt board everywhere else. if the president can win iowa, wisconsin and ohio and nothing else changes on our map, that means he is elected to a second term. so the president has an easier path. let's put these back where we have them at tossups now, what about governor romney? how does he get 270? has to start in florida. governor romney need these 29. without them, almost impossible to see him getting there. we lean north carolina his way, he has to keep it the obama campaign says that is not his way. he needs to keep it and match it by getting neighboring virginia,

one of the states the president changed to blue last time, 13 there if he does that and he can get ohio, no republican has ever won without it governor romney win with those four, florida, keep north carolina, virginia and ohio, look at that, then he would need just any one, pick one off the menu, win colorado, new hamp hampshire, woe win the election. as you know, the president, romney campaign says it has an enthusiasm edge here, the president had an edge most of the polls in ohio. try to create a scenario asking this question, can governor romney get there without ohio? no republican has ever done it in history, wolf. we have to win colorado. we have to win wisconsin. probably have to win iowa, that would get him over the top if he can do those three, so hard to see him not winning ohio and winning wisconsin and iowa. in the end, watch ohio, both candidates will be back. can he get there without it? yes. is it probable? probably not. >> ohio, ohio, ohio, as we are saying, john. don't go too far away. anderson cooper, of course is with us every step of the way. anderson? >> check in with our analysts,

senior correspondental correspondent dana bash is here, david gergen, gloria borger and contributory cnn, alex castellanos and adviser to the obama white house, van jones. two days to go before this thing. where are your heads at? what are you looking at very closely in terms of the numbers? >> spinning. our heads are spinning. i think is it impossible to call this race. john king just laid it out that president romney -- mares got a steeper hill to climb in the electoral college. if you look at the 12 battleground states people normally list, barack obama's ahead in nine of the 12 battleground states and romney only ahead in three. but when you go on the ground, you actually talk to people in the state, i was in ohio this week, quite striking how many republicans on the ground thought they were going to win it. they thought they had the enthusiasm. they thought they had the evangelical -- >> is that just -- >> we rely too much on the polls. should not get stuck on the polls. wait and see what the voters say, on the ground, things are happening that you don't get out

of the polls. >> there's no doubt that republicans are more enthusiastic this time than they were four years ago. and our poll though on overall, sort of a national average, shows a tie between the parties on that. that wouldn't be good if that held up in the battleground states for mitt romney, because what he's got to depend on to match the get out the vote effort from the obama campaign, he's got to depend on the natural energy, the enthusiasm, of his own troops. if he doesn't have that, then's really gonna have a problem. >> four years ago, when you were talking about ohio, president obama won because he won in early voting. he effectively lost on election day those votes. talk to the romney campaign, they have been crunch the numbers as you can imagine big time, they argue that their numbers are up a lot, a lot, like 100,000 -- >> but is it enough. >> early voting and absentee. >> that is the question. is it enough? when you go into these states, as i have in the last few weeks, it is night and day. this is not 2008. you go into the obama campaign

offices, they are full of people. they are working hard f this were 1988, the dukakis campaign, gore campaign, clinton campaign, the kerry campaign, a good operation. but not like four years ago, you went in and celebratory, people getting inside, too many people to work the phone banks it is not like that. these are bustling obama campaign office, they are working hard, don't get me wrong. they have a great organization. they don't have the energy. walk a college campus, pick one anywhere in the country, not like it was four years ago. the republican offices are buzzing way more than they were for john mccain, in ohio, in colorado, elsewhere. the question is it enough? >> his job to say this, but the house speaker did an exclusive interview with deidra walsh in ohio, he knows ohio, from ohio, he insists he has never seen this kind of republican enthusiasm in his home state. >> fascinating to hear mitt romney using the same kind of words that then-candidate obama used, talked about change a lot, but also talking about being on this mission or this is a movement which is kind of

reflecting what a lot of the obama folks felt four years ago. >> that's what you're seeing changing the country, you know? this is -- we want the same president we wanted last time, we just haven't gotten him yet. mitt romney is out there campaigning for hope and change. and but yes, i'm seeing in these states a tremendous amount of intensity. obama intense sit pick up here near the end. the storm helped the president and i know we want to talk about that. but this thing's a nail biter. when i look at the numbers, i think any reasonable analyst would look at this and say obama has an advantage. but if you look beneath them, i can make you the case that mitt romney can reach 300 electoral votes. >> van? >> it's really fascinating. first of all, in places like ohio, you've got ralph reed in there. i mean, anybody who thinks ohio is in the bag for obama, you have ralph reed in there not heard from the evangelicals in there ralph reed tells you you are going to wake up in a body bag, you wake up in a body bag. you can see these people come in. at the same time there maybe

undersampling of younger, browner voters. when i am nee ohio, they say nobody called me for a poll nobody asked my opinion, i have friends coming out. x-factors we don't know b. >> standing by for new results on our poll how the economy is influencing voters and tom foreman taking us inside his virtual u.s. senate. tell us how our live does change if the balance of power shifts in the senate. both presidential candidates holding battleground rallies tonight. our reporters are there to reveal the campaigns' last-minute strategies. we will be right back. if we want to improve our schools... ... what should we invest in? maybe new buildings? what about updated equipment? they can help, but recent research shows... ... nothing transforms schools like investing

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soothes you to sleep with ingredients like melatonin. it's safe with no side effects, so you wake up... ready to go. [ male announcer ] unisom natural nights. looking at a live picture from cincinnati. the president of the united states getting ready to speak to a big crowd there in cincinnati. we are going to have live coverage. that's coming up. stand by. meanwhile, we have more now from our new national poll, cnn's final survey before election day in america. they showed the voters' mood is improving but there's still a long way to go 46% say things are going well in the country

right now. that's up from 36% back in august. 53% say things are going badly in the country, that's ten points lower than in august. the mood is much more pessimistic when we specifically asked about the economy. only 28% say economic conditions are good. 71% call them poor. and among likely voters, 34% say economic conditions will improve only if president obama wins. 43% say they will improve only if mitt romney wins. 13% think things will improve if either whins. 5% think things won't get better. anderson? >> watching all this and both candidates on the trail tonight holding rallies, as we said in battleground states some far, president obama's campaigned in new hampshire, florida and now ohio. jessica yellin is in cincinnati. jessica? >> reporter: hi, anderson. as you mentioned, the president has been crisscrossing the nation, hitting battleground

states. now, some of those states were expected nail biters, new hampshire, florida, coulorado bt also investing time, for example in wisconsin. yesterday he was there. this is a state he should not have to invest some of these precious last hours and in the final days, he is swinging through no fewer than three times. in a traditionally blue state that is a lot of time for a democrat to invest at the very end of the campaign. his message, anderson, he tells audiences that he will continue to fight for the middle class. he insists that he, and not governor romney, is the candidate of change answered says that he will be the man, the president, that voters can trust. this is what the president said earlier today in hollywood, florida. >> you know, and here's the thing, when you make this cho e

choice, you know, part of what you're choosing is who do you trust? you know, because you don't know what crisis the next president will confront. you don't know what challenge we may have to meet that was unexpected. part of a what you're focused on is how does somebody operate? and florida, after four years as president, you know me by now. >> reporter: now, anderson, the main message the president and his surrogates delivered, simple is play put is vote. his campaign believes theft support in this nation, if they can just turn their supporters out. anderson? >> how is he going to spend the day tomorrow? what's the schedule? >> reporter: tomorrow, he goes to wisconsin again, i mentioned, also ohio. and he is ending the day in iowa where as they say it all began. he will be there with mrs. obama

at a very late rally late tomorrow night. i would also point out that bill clinton will be on the campaign trail tomorrow, spending his entire day in pennsylvania for the president, shoring up support in, again, a traditionally blue state, because this campaign says they have learned from the past and they can't take it for granted. anderson? >> jessica, thanks very much. mitt romney is heading for virginia. it is the fourth state that he has visited today. the real eye other was his late-afternoon stop in pennsylvania, a state the obama campaign has count wing. here's some of what romney just told the crowd. >> if there's anyone worried the last four years the best we can do anyone who fierce the american dream is fading away, anyone who wonders whether better jobs and better paychecks are a thing of the past, i have a clear and unequivocal message, with the right leadership, america is about to come roaring back. >> cnn national political

correspondent jim acosta is following the romney campaign. >> reporter: romney knows he is an underdog here in pennsylvania, the gop nominee entered this event outside of the philadelphia suburbs to the theme from the movie "rocky." across the country, he has been giving his closing argument what sounded like a surgeon general's warning to voters. he says that the president is eleengtd, the country could go back into recession and continue to accumulate massive piles of debt. what he has been doing, trying to reach out to independent, undecided and even some democratic voters to change their minds in the final dives this race. asked why the romney campaign is trying to compete in pennsylvania, a state what has been long considered to be a democratic stronghold in presidential races, a top romney adviser points to the polls saying that they are overperforming in this state and that the president in their mind, is underperforming. so mitt romney, who has long been considered a numbers man throughout his career, whether it is in business or politics, is going to find out on tuesday who's right, the pollsters or his campaign. back to you.

>> jim, thanks vet. it's a dead heat in our new presidential poll, as you know, but voters not evenly split when we asked who they think will win. more results on that ahead. the election has come down to tossup states showing yellow on our map. our battleground reporters are in force tonight. we will check in with some of the closest contests ahead automatically filter just the right amount of light. so you see everything the way it's meant to be seen. maybe even a little better. vsp members can save on all authentic transitions lenses, including our new transitions vantage and transitions xtractive lenses. experience life well lit. ask which transitions adaptive lens is best for you. a short word that's a tall order. up your game. up the ante. and if you stumble, you get back up. up isn't easy, and we ought to know. we're in the business of up. everyday delta flies a quarter of million people while investing billions improving everything

from booking to baggage claim. we're raising the bar on flying and tomorrow we will up it yet again. we'rwith questions fromtump sombing elections.kies do you know where your polling place is? maybe somewhere around my house. mine's just, right over that way. well you can find out exactly where it is using bing elections. it's a good day for politics. which way do you lean politically? conservative. republican. well, using the bing news selector you can find news from whichever way you lean. (together) social on this side, financial. which party is currently predicted to win a majority in the senate? the republicans? would you make a bet on that? no. are you chicken?

once again, you are looking

at live pictures from cincinnati. the president of the united states getting ready to address a pretty big crowd there in cincinnati in a few moments. we are going to have live coverage. stand by for that. we also have more now from cnn's final preelection national poll. remember, it shows the presidential candidates in a 49-49% tie among likely voters nationally. but look at this. when we asked them who they think will win, 57% say president obama, only 36% say mitt romney. also, both candidates favorable ratings are nearly identical, 52% have a favorable view of the president while 46% have an unfavorable view of him. mitt romney's favorable number is now up to 51%. only one point lower than the president's. the name goes for his up favorable number, 45%, while the president's is 46%. john king is over here at the magic wall to compare the latest poll numbers with what the voters thought four years ago. what are you seeing, john?

>> a great question. we always see in our exit polls women ask which candidate better handles the economy, better handle an international crisis. who votes in the demographics of the electorate will tell us early on who is likely to win go back in history and look at 2008 exit polls. this is fascinating. on election day in 2008, then-senator obama won by six points among independent voters, eight points. among independent voters n our new poll tonight, wolf, governor romney is ahead by 20 points among end pen dents. governor romney wins by double digits on election day, it is hard to see the president winning re-election. big advantage for governor romney there in our poll. among latino voters, we know what the president did four years ago two thirds of vote. latinos were 9% of the national electorate four years ago. watch this number on election day. it is around 9% or higher, good news for president obama, we expect he is going to get two-thirds or more again of the latino vote f this number is flat or down, that's potential opening for the romney campaign. who votes on stews critical to

who wins that one there turn this up and move to another one here, if you look here -- let me turn that off for you. among voters abled 18 to 29, this was 18% of the electorate, 18% of the electorate four years ago, you see the president's advantage. again, we expect the president to have a similar advantage among younger voters 18 to 29 versus governor rom nichl yet, how many vote? is the obama coalition this year similar to four years something that you look at early exit polls, are they around 18%? if that number's down that is an opening for governor romney. move here among white working class voters, this is just the state of ohio, how the president won ohio four years ago, if the president of the united states is above 40 among white working class voters in the state of ohio, which is the battleground of all battle grounds that is the number to watch on election day. if he can match that number or closer to it, above 40, bode well for the president in the key battleground state of ohio. one more we want to look at wolf, here, white evangelicals. van talk about the ralph reed operation in ohio. also working in virginia. they are working in colorado. they are working elsewhere.

this is what happens four years ago. about 28% of the electorate, 28% of the electorate four years ago nationally said they were evangelical voters. watch where that number is in virginia, ohio, colorado f governor romney can get about eight in ten of those votes, he has a very good shot in this election, if the turnout is up. the question is it the obama coalition of 2008 or a different electorate in 2012? >> recreate that magic of four years ago? if they can, in good shape if not, we will see what happens. anderson this battle for the battleground states is intense. >> certainly is we are counting down to election day in america, almost here, could come down to a handful of states that go either way. check in on three of these swing states the president won in 2008. don lemon is in ohio, poppy harlow is in iowa and kim yaw in castle rock, colorado. don? >> reporter: anderson, the strategy here, to get as many people out to early vote as possible. i have had the chance to go to several polling places in hamilton county, in franklin

county and today in montgomery county here in the columbus area, when i went out to check out the polls to see how early voting was going, i was stunned by the number of people i saw, the lines were around the building. people waiting in lines for hours. i'm told, by the democratic party share here, anderson, they had 4,000 people in four hours to early vote in montgomery county. and that is causing the republican people here on the ground to try to rethink their strategy to get people to the polls and vote. this is a numbers game and it's all going to come down to the wire. i couldn't believe the number of people i saw. they believe all of those votes, most of those votes here today in montgomery county, democratic voters, anderson. >> check in with poppy harlow in des moines. poppy? >> reporter: anderson it is around the clock here, non-stop, coming to you live tonight from one of obama's 352 volunteer centers in iowa alone, calling, knocking on doors, they wouldn't give us a number of doors knocked and calls made to date

but he did tell us that from saturday to tuesday, they expect to knock on 1.1 million doors here in iowa. romney camp says, look, we have contacted 2 million voters in iowa since june. the early vote, just like don said, that's key in ohio, critical in this battleground state. 40% of the votes this year are going to be early votes. right now, democrats have a 63,000-vote lead on republicans. thy traditionally do lead republicans in this state on early voting but the secretary of state's office tells me, anderson, that lead is much narrower than it has in past years. bottom line, romney camp, getting out the ground game very hard here in iowa. they want these six electoral votes. anderson? >> check in the situation with colorado. >> reporter: anderson, paul ryan is expected to arrive here momentarily. this is his final event of this barnstorm day, so, perhaps it is fitting i'm actually standing in a barn here at the douglas county fair grounds. the republicans here in colorado say they are the ones with the

energy. you see how crowd it had is behind me. and if you look at who has already cast their votes in early voting are, it is the republicans who are leading. 1.6 million people have already voted. the colorado secretary of state's said about 85% of the registered voters will have voted before election day. so the republicans lead by 35,000, very different story here than what poppy is seeing in iowa. republicans saying they have the energy. they have the edge. but i can tell you from being out here, it is too close to call. both sides really have to reach those very critical independents in this swing state, anderson. >> quick check of three bat ground states there waiting to hear from president obama in ohio just any moment now. we are also turning our attention ahead to the battle for congress. tom foreman has a pretty unique way to show us how the election could change the senate and affect some of the toughest issues face the country right now. we will be right back. [ male announcer ] citi turns 200 this year.

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we are not only focused on the battle for the white house but also paying very close attention to which party ends up controlling the senate it will have a huge impact on some of the most important issues facing the country right now. cnn's tom foreman is in our virtual u.s. senate for a close look what are you seeing, tom? >> you are absolutely right. right behind the white house rate, single biggest attention grabber in all of this is going to be the race for the control of the u.s. senate because what's decided here?

the balance of power here will have a huge impact on what actually gets done in washington over the next four years. let's take our camera up high and show the current balance. the republicans have 47 seats in red here but you see that little strip of blue seats in the back, the red section? that is the democratic advantage. when you include the independent senators who caucus with the democrats, they have 53 seats and that gives them a majority. also, they have the white house, with president obama, of course and the republicans have one stronghold and that is the u.s. house of representatives, where they have the majority. so, if nothing changes here and president obama gets reelected, what can we expect to see here in the u.s. senate? well, a lot of the same maneuvering and bickering as we have seen before, i imagine, but also a new agenda. one of the first thing on president obama's agenda, higher taxes on the wealthy. he has talked a lot about this as a way of making the economy more fair and getting the economy moving again. here's another item. immigration reform. he took a lot of heat not

getting this done the first time after he promised he would. he says if he is reelected, he will take another crack at it. here is a wildcard. he might have a supreme court seat to fill. justice ginsburg has indicated she might want to retire f she goes that is a liberal-leaning justice going away. the president would probably try to put another liberal in that seat and if he succeeded, that would maintain the status quo in the court. but now, let's imagine that the president doesn't get re-elected but everything else remains the same. what would mitt romney as president want to do in this chamber? first thing, lower tax rates for everybody. he has talked about it a lot, a 20% reduction across the board, plus closing a lot of loopholes out there. that's his way of getting the economy moving again and getting the deficit under control. he also wants to get rid of obama care, repeal obama care. says he will keep the most popular part bus by and large, the rest of at the just wants to chuck out. he, too, could face that supreme

court seat. big difference though. big difference. if a liberal justice goes away, woe probably want to put a more conservative justice in that seat. that would change the balance of the court and, wolf, it would probably affect the types of rulings that we would see coming out of that court if president romney were in charge. wolf? >> tom, a lot of experts believe the house will remain in the hands of the republicans, but what about the balance of power in the senate? >> well, wolf, the simple truth is getting any of this done for either of these men will depend largely on what happens in this chamber. the democrats obviously could hold their advantage. the republicans might be able to pick up those three blue seats back there, in which case, you would have a tie here and any 50/50 vote would have to be decided by the vice president, either joe biden or paul ryan. maybe, maybe the republicans might pick up a couple of seats in the democratic side and have control here, but this is the most important thing for everyone to bear in mind.

no matter which party is in charge of this chamber, has the majority here after the vote, the simple truth is there's almost no chance that either party will have a 60-vote majority, which is what you need to defeat the threat of a filibuster. and without that, that means that both parties would have the same challenge. they must come up with a way to do what they haven't been able to do for quite some time you work across this aisle to produce some kind of agreements, wolf, or else neither party can get much of anything done. >> excellent report from tom foreman in our virtual u.s. senate. love that virtual u.s. senate, tom. thanks very, very much. hurricane sandy' impact is a wildcard in tuesday's vote one key republican says the storm stopped mitt romney's momentum. we also have exclusive photos of both hacandidates behd the scenes on this the final week of the campaign.

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student loans. i do what i say. you know where i stand and you know what i believe. you know i tell the truth. and you know i'll fight for you and your families every single day as hard as i know how. so when i tell you i know what real change looks like, it's because i fought for it. because i delivered it. because i've got the scars to prove it. because that's why my hair went gray. and ohio, after all we've been together, we can't give up on it now. we got to keep on going and bring some more change to america.

we've got more work to do. so, let me till over the next four years, here is what change is, change is a country in which every american has a shot at education. government can't do this alone. parents have to parent. students have to study. bear cats, i want to you hit the books. now don't just have fun here. but don't tell me that hiring more teachers won't help this economy grow. of course it will. tonight tell me that students who can't afford college should just borrow money from their parents. that wasn't an option for me i'll bet it wasn't an option for a lot of you. that's why i want to cut the growth of tuition in half over

the next ten years. that's why i want to recruit 100,000 math and science teachers so our kids don't fall behind the rest of the world. that's why i want to train 2 million americans in our community colleges for the skills businesses are hiring for right now. that's my plan. that's what change is. that's what we're fighting for in this election. change is when we live up to this country's legacy of innovation and i'm very proud that i bet on american worker, american ingenuity and the american auto industry, but i'm especially proud because we're not just building cars, we're building better cars here in ohio, here in the midwest, here in america. cars that by the middle of the next decade will go twice as far on a gallon of gas that helps

our environment that helps our economy. that helps our national security, but we don't want to just stop at cars. we want to advance manufacturing all across this country. there are thousands of workers building long-lasting batteries, building wind turbines, building solar panels. i don't want a tax code that simply subsidizes oil company profits when they are making money hand over fist. i want to sport energy jobs of tomorrow. i want to support the new technology that will cut our oil imports in half. i don't want a tax code that rewards company shipping jobs overseas. i want to reward companies investing here in ohio, manufacturing with american workers. that's my plan for jobs. that's the future i see. change is turning the page on a decade of war so we can do some nation building here at home. you know, as long as i'm commander in chief, we will

pursue our enemies with the strongest mill tatter world has ever known. but, it's time for us to use some of the savings from ending the wars in iraq and winding down, transitioning in afghanistan to pay down our debt to rebuild america. let put folks back to work now, repairing roads and bridges there's a bridge right here in cincinnati that needs some work. let's make sure we've got schools that are state-of-the-art all across this country. and let especially hire our veterans because if you fought for this country and its freedom, you shouldn't have to fight for a job when you come home. that's what will keep us strong. that's my commitment to you. and that's what's at stake in this election. you know, change is a future where we reduce our deficit and

our get do it in a balanced, responsible way. you know, i signed $1 trillion worth of spending cuts, i intend do more, but if we are serious about our deficit, we can't just cut our way to prosperity, we have also got to ask the wealthiest americans to go back to the same tax rates they paid when bill clinton was in office. and the reason cincinnati is because a budget is about choices, it's about values, it's about priority. yes we can't do everything, we have to make decision about what's important. as long as i'm president, i won't turn medicare into a voucher just to pay for another millionaire's tax cut. i won't throw kids off of head start just to pay for another tax cut for me. i don't need it. those kids need it. i don't need it. so we know what change is we

know what the future requires and we also know it's not easy. it's not easy bringing about change. you know, back in 2008, we talked about change we believe in i warned people. look, i wasn't just talking about changing president, i wasn't talking about changing political parties, i was talking about changing how our system of politics works. i ran because the voices of the american people, your voices, had been shut out of our democracy for way too long by lobbyist and special interests and politicians who will say and do whatever it takes just to keep things the way they are. the pro-at this tim the protectors of the status quo, they are powerful and fought us every step of the way in washington. they spent millions trying to stop us from reforming health

care, spent million s to preven us from trying to reform wall street. when we got those things through, engineered a strategy of gridlock in congress, refusing to compromise even on ideas that both democrats and republicans used to support, like obama care, which started out in massachusetts under governor romney. it worked type when a republican was sponsoring it and suddenly, it was terrible when a democrat put it forward and the reason they've done this, look, it's a strategy. they made a calculation what they're counting on is you'll be so worn down by all the squabble, you'll be tired of all the dysfunction, you'll just be fed up and ultimately give up on the idea of changing, you'll walk away, you'll leave them in

power, you'll decide things can't change. in other words, their bet is on cynicism. but ohio, my bet's on you. >> listening to president obama speaking in cincinnati, ohio. just briefly, let talk about -- both candidates, the closing arguments they are making, do you think they are the right ones, alex? >> think mitt romney has become so much better a candidate since that first debate. he is talking about bringing change to washington or more of the same for the next four years. finally, an argument that you can tell someone in an elevator for 30 seconds why vote for mitt romney. and this is the best i've seen barack obama since four years ago. so, yes, i think these guys, you know, another couple of years of this election, they will be right there. >> van what do you think? >> well, this is -- i agree with alex, 100%. i think that obama has finally found his stride. there is a danger for mitt romney. he may have peaked a bit too early. i think you see obama now with the enthusiasm and i think a lot

of people have been very concerned, you saw in florida those long lines, people wanting to vote there is a sense now maybe they don't want us to vote and i think you're seeing a late surge now for obama and i think he is appealing to that desire to get back on track with his movement. >> in watching mitt romney speak today and in the last couple of days, what has really struck me is that this is the candidate who was so robotic, needed his wife to humanize him. he is now talking about his family. he is talking about his faith. he is talking -- today he told -- you know, is telling a story about his sister and her children and she is she's a widow and her down syndrome child. and it's a completely different mitt romney than the one we saw at the beginning of the campaign who could only talk about the economy. >> and his favorables are up. >> his favorables are up and i think this is the reason. >> david? >> the most important thing he has done is made a pivot from bag severe conservative to moderate conservative.

did he that in the first debate and carried that right along ever since and is working pretty well for him a lesson, by the way, if he loses republicans out to understand that he gained by going more toward the center right. >> do you think that's the message they would get if he loses? >> my guess is they wouldn't because you're talking about different points in time. when he is running, you remember, this is the mitt romney who had a very hard time convincing republicans that he was really one of them during the primaries. now, he is unshackled, he can run toward the middle, because that's what you do in the general election. it is easy for him to be the kind of guy that every somebody saying -- >> look how much more appealing he is to most americans. his numbers have gone up. >> and more optimistic. >> republican electorate. >> but one thing i remember from the republican primaries and alex, you may disagree with me, is that it was relentlessly harsh, negative, you know, cheers about people not getting worked on in hospital wait rooms and that kind of -- remember

that? remember those awful moments during the primaries? and mitt romney had to get away from that and it's taken time. >> the campaign does that. my experience has always been that campaigns don't pick candidates, they make candidates and this is the mitt romney ultimately that we can see as president. he is as authentic as he was when he started, he has grown through the process. >> that's what conservatives were worried about, by the way. >> you don't went middle by comp prom midsing yourself. you win the middle by doing, gloria what you were doing, being optimistic and explaining how your values are right and true. >> his problem now is that there are a lot of people that watched the pivot and said you whoa, that was just sort of too rapids, too obvious, sort of too much in your face u and it's also caused a certain amount of distrust. if he made the pivot a lot earlier, he might have lost the nomination, but i think we have more -- >> i think both the candidates have the same problem, because i think people after four years are not quite sure who president obama is and who he will be in the next four years.

will he work with republicans? same thing with mitt romney. >> one thing that's funny, 'cause it sounds like you're saying this mitt is more appealing. he also did some things this week that were very disturbing to people. he went took that welfare argument. that seemed like a little bit of a cheap shot. he said something today, not going to offer to give you free money or free checks to make you vote for me, those thing also i think don't sit well people. a little bit more of a mixed picture. >> both candidates have done that mitt romney gets called on it and obama never does. this week, barack obama urged tomy vote for revenge f a republican had done that we'd ban him from the country. >> i think watching in, tuning in now, the best of both. >> trying to play as much as we can on this evening and will no doubt tomorrow as well.

a cnn exclusive for you, behind-the-scenes photos of each campaign, glitches of the presidential candidates like you have not seen before. be right back. up the ante. and if you stumble, you get back up. up isn't easy, and we ought to know. we're in the business of up. everyday delta flies a quarter of million people while investing billions improving everything from booking to baggage claim. we're raising the bar on flying and tomorrow we will up it yet again. imimagaginine e ifif y yod alalwawaysys s seeee l e [m[mususicic]] inin t thehe b besest t lil. eveverery y titimeme o of f. ououtdtdoooorsrs, , oro. trtranansisititiononss® ls auautotomamatiticacalllly y fift ththe e ririghght t amamouountn. soso y youou s seeee e eveg ththe e waway y itit is memeanant t toto b be e ses. mamaybybe e evevenen a lilittttlele b betette. exexpeperirienencece l lifife e,

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stevie wonder still singing at the obama rally in cincinnati. each campaign team was invited to submit images from the last weeks of the 2012 presidential campaign. look at these exclusive behind the scenes pictures of both barack obama and in rare, unguarded moments. the photos of the president were taken during the past week by the white house chief photographer, pete sousa. we see the president in a staff meeting about hurricane sandy, hugging one of the victims of the storm during wednesday's visit to the new jersey coast and in a florida hotel room on friday, getting ready for a joint appearance with former president bill clinton. >> also, the pictures of mitt romney come from eric draper who also severed as president george w. bush's personal photographer. this is his staff getting ready for a speech in ohio, singing along with the oakridge boys and hugging one of his grand children. again, all the images provided exclusively to cnn. see a lot more on cnn.com. stay with us for theom