As “Fire Obama” and “Romney-Ryan” signs in dorm windows compete for attention with “Colorado for Obama” and “Obama-Biden” signs, the last two weeks of the campaign promise to be a hard-fought race to the finish line on Nov. 6.
National polls show a virtual tie between the two candidates, and polls in swing states which once heavily favored Obama are now tightening significantly.
With just 14 days before the election and early voting already open in most states, what can Romney and Obama do to play their strengths and convince still undecided voters to support them?
Team Romney:
Team Romney needs to deliver one message all the way down the home stretch, and that message is that he can improve the economy while Obama cannot. The strength of the economy is the single most important issue in presidential elections, leaving foreign policy and other issues far behind.
Romney needs to continue to remind voters Obama’s policies have not succeeded in bringing down unemployment and his own policies will create the jobs Americans need.
Romney did a great job doing just this at the debate at DU, appearing on national TV with 67 million people watching around the country. He came across as a strong-willed leader with a different plan to move forward.
Although he did not provide specific details of his plan, he was able to rhetorically defeat Obama by dwelling on the unemployment rate over 8 percent and Obama’s adding to the national debt instead of cutting it, as he promised to.
Outside of the economy, Romney also needs to appeal more to common everyday Americans and minorities. By everyday Americans, I mean the working class without a college education and with very little wealth.
Obama did a great job painting him as an out-of-touch wealthy businessman with attack ads throughout the summer, and this continues today.
Romney needs to peel off that label.
If he can portray himself as someone who understands everyday Americans and has a plan to grow the economy, he will be hard to beat.
He also needs to reach out to minorities, Hispanics in particular, whose votes will likely decide the result in crucial swing states like Florida, Nevada, and Colorado.
Team Obama:
Team Obama needs to regain the momentum they had during the summer and after the Democratic Convention. After a weak showing at the DU debate, he started to make a comeback after the Hofstra University debate.
Since Obama cannot dwell on the economy without voters wondering why it hasn’t improved in his four years, he needs to defend his record on other accomplishments and continue to show voters Romney does not have a real plan.
He needs to emphasize his policies have worked: huge increases in the production of green energy and their accompanying jobs through federal grants, increases in American natural gas and oil production and investments from his stimulus plan which have rebuilt roads and bridges across the country.
He also needs to make clear to voters that he succeeded in bringing troops home from Iraq and has a plan to draw down troops in Afghanistan while Romney does not.
Obama must take advantage of Romney’s ambiguous economic plan and history of flip-flopping on his stances on a wide array of issues.
He needs to communicate that Romney favors the upper class in his tax plan, and even though he promises to reduce the deficit by closing loopholes, there is almost no way this can mathematically add up.
He needs to convince everyday Americans they simply should not vote for someone who flat out refuses to tell them what he intends to do with the tax code.
Finally, Obama needs to tell voters one final time Romney is a flip-flopper on nearly every issue from healthcare to abortion.
He should highlight the changes Romney has made to his strategy from as recently as the GOP primaries, and he is bound to reconsider his stances once again if he is elected.
Both Republicans and Democrats have a lot at stake in this election, and need to use these final 14 days wisely.
Romney and Obama both need to play to their own strengths and play off of the other’s weaknesses.
