President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are engaged in a heavy ground battle in Michigan to turn out their voters, as both sides, at least for the moment, have backed off their ad campaigns across the state.
According to the
Detroit News, the campaigns are trying to shore up their bases by using activist groups, telephone banks, locally targeted registration drives, social media, and door-to-door contact in an effort to energize likely voters.
At the moment, Obama holds as much as a 10-point lead in Michigan, the state where Romney was born and his father was governor. But both sides still have a lot to lose and gain, depending how many voters turn out on election day.
For example, Obama won the state in 2008, when enthusiasm for his campaign helped drive more than 5 million voters to the polls. But in 2010, the Republicans turned things around by sweeping many state offices and taking control of the legislature.
Romney campaign spokesman Sean Fitzpatrick told the News the campaign hasn't ruled out putting more ads up throughout Michigan as Election Day Nov. 6 approaches. But he described the campaign's "ground game" as a "massive operation" being run in step with the Republican National Committee and the state GOP. He said Romney remains committed to winning his home state.
The Obama campaign, meanwhile, is working the state's college campuses hard, focusing on registering students and trying to regenerate the kind of enthusiastic support his campaign drew from younger voters in 2008. The president's campaign, the News reported, is also planning to double its 12 statewide offices before Oct 1.
© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.