Plouffe Calls Pennsylvania Push 'Desperate Ploy'; Gillespie: The Undecideds are Ours

A senior adviser to President Obama today called Mitt Romney’s late push for Pennsylvania “a desperate ploy at the end of a campaign.”

David Plouffe said on ABC’s This Week that Obama has “an important lead” in battleground states. “Early vote’s gone very well for us. We think we’re closing with strong momentum. The president is having terrific events out there. So I am confident two days from now, the president will be re-elected,” he said.

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Plouffe was referencing an AP report yesterday rounding up party affiliation of those who have voted early. So far, Democratic voters outnumber Republicans in Florida, Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio.

“I mean, to win Pennsylvania, Governor Romney would have to win two- thirds of the independents. He’s not going to do that anywhere, much less Pennsylvania. So the truth is, they’re throwing some ads up and Governor Romney is, you know, traveling in the state he’s not going to win,” Plouffe said.

“In Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, we’re playing offense on states that they thought they had the inside track on, and they don’t,” he continued. “So, you know, I think a lot of this is a smokescreen, to try and mask the fact that in the places that will decide this election from an Electoral College standpoint — Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin — they are — it’s going to be close, but they are definitely in a weak position heading into Election Day.”

Ed Gillespie of the Romney campaign countered that “it’s a remarkable juxtaposition here that Mitt Romney will be in the suburbs of Philadelphia today, and, you know, four years ago, Barack Obama was in Indiana.”

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“When you look at where this map has gone, it reflects the — the change and the direction and the momentum toward Governor Romney,” Gillespie said. “And the fact is that a state like Pennsylvania being in play, a poll out today showing Michigan a dead heat, you know, this — the map has expanded.”

“Wisconsin, Minnesota has expanded our way. We feel very confident in terms of where we are in the — in the target states. We’ve been able to expand into Pennsylvania while fully funding and staying current with everything we need to be doing in Florida and Virginia and Ohio and all of the other target states,” he added.

Gillespie pooh-poohed Plouffe’s assertion that they have a better ground game and that will bring the election home.

“Their assumption seems to be that these undecided voters, the — you know, the president and Governor Romney are both about 47 percent, 48 percent, as you know, in these polls, and their assumption seems to be that these undecided voters aren’t going to turn out and that they, therefore, prevail because of their superior ground game versus ours,” he said.

“Number one, their ground game is not superior. And, number two, I think those undecided voters are going to turn out, and they’re going to break pretty strongly against the president.”

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A new poll today in the Allentown Morning Call found Obama with a three-point lead over Romney, 49-46 in a state where he’s previously led by safe margins.

“For the first time, likely voters’ view of Romney is more positive than negative with 47 percent favorable to 45 percent unfavorable,” reported the paper. “Obama’s ratings have been slightly more positive since early September and he now is viewed favorably 48 percent to unfavorably 47 percent.”

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