He was followed into the state – a vast expanse of corn fields bigger than
England, with a population of just three million – by Mr Romney, who said
the glossy pamphlet disclosed “no new plans”.
Accusing Mr Obama of ditching “change” to become the “president
of status quo”, he said in Cedar Rapids: “The policies of the
president are a continuation of what we’ve seen over the last four years.”
Volunteers for both candidates are frantically knocking doors and treading
pavements across Iowa in an effort to clinch the critical six votes it will
contribute to the national electoral college of 538.
While the national vote is tied, Mr Obama will win re-election if he can take
Iowa, neighbouring Wisconsin and nearby Ohio, while holding states already
pencilled into his column. If Mr Romney loses in Ohio, where he has
consistently trailed, he must construct a patchwork of smaller states –
starting with Iowa.
Local residents said their televisions and radios were blaring attack
advertisements around the clock, while their postboxes were stuffed full
with mail-outs, such as Mr Obama’s new pamphlet.
Yet in a setback to the president, The Des Moines Register, a powerful
regional newspaper, complained yesterday that he had insisted on being
interviewed “off the record”, keeping his remarks secret.
“The answer to one of the most important questions the Register ever can
ask a politician – “Why should you be our president?” –
deserves to be shared with voters,” its editors wrote.
Facing claims from aides to Mr Romney, who gave a full interview, that the
decision “betrayed the president’s lack of confidence about his failed
record and lack of a vision”, Mr Obama relented.
The transcript showed he pledged to overhaul US immigration laws, having
failed to do so in his first term as promised. He predicted Republican
leaders would co-operate having “alienated the fastest-growing
demographic group”, Latinos, with extreme statements during the
campaign.
Mr Obama also reiterated his goal to strike a “grand bargain” to
reduce the $1.2 trillion budget deficit via $2.50 in spending cuts for every
extra dollar in tax revenue. Republicans say taxes must not rise.
Supporters in Davenport said middle America backed Mr Obama’s plan. “People
here are worried about how to make it to the next day, how to fill their
cars,” said Rodney Maiden, a 40-year-old mature student. “Obama
has walked in those shoes – and he hasn’t forgotten. Romney has never
struggled”.
In a feisty speech, Mr Obama claimed Mr Romney would “turn back the clock
50 years for immigrants, gays and women” and repeatedly said the
Republican had shown himself to be untrustworthy.
He attacked Mr Romney for claiming to be a “car guy” after opposing
the government bail-out of the US auto industry – central to the Midwestern
economy – and for now saying his plan to cut income taxes by 20 per cent
would not benefit top earners, after privately assuring donors that it would.
Listing such symptoms of “Romnesia”, he joked that the prescription
was ObamaCare, his health system reform. “We can cure you, Iowa!”,
he said. “We can cure folks of this malady, this disease.”
In the crowd, Mercedes Rosing, who cares for her disabled husband full-time,
said she feared Mr Romney’s plan to scrap ObamaCare. “We struggle with
insurance costs,” she said. “We need help”.
Mrs Rosing, 55, said times were so hard that Mr Obama’s support was not
guaranteed. “I thought Romney might not be so bad, that he was a
moderate,” she said. “But he’s shifted. I’m worried what he would
do”.