Obama makes another pitch for Nevadans’ votes

Dropping into Las Vegas the day before early voting ends in Nevada, President Barack Obama on Thursday made a plea for less political fighting and more cooperation to fix the nation's ills, using the example of working with leaders of East Coast states to deal with Hurricane Sandy.

"When disaster strikes, we see America at its best," Obama said, speaking to 4,500 people at an outdoor rally at the Cheyenne Sports Complex in North Las Vegas. "There are no Democrats or Republicans during a storm - just fellow Americans. … We rise or fall as one nation."

Obama's swift, 2½-hour visit to Nevada came a day after he toured ravaged areas of New Jersey with Republican Gov. Chris Christie in the aftermath of the storm, which wrecked the Eastern Seaboard. The disaster temporarily suspended the campaign a week before Tuesday's election.

GOP challenger Mitt Romney also took a break, but both men were back on the trail Thursday as time runs short to persuade voters to side with them at the ballot box.

Romney's running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, visited Reno to urge voters to go to the polls early for the GOP ticket to bank votes ahead of Tuesday's election.

Thursday evening, Ryan dropped by a Team Nevada office in Las Vegas to fire up volunteers and help make calls to voters.

"Hi, I'm Paul Ryan, and I'm running for vice president with Mitt Romney," he said.

The Wisconsin congressman made two calls, and in both cases the people who answered said they already had voted for the Romney-Ryan ticket. He thanked them and asked the supporters to get others to the polls.

"Do me a favor. Talk to everybody you know," Ryan said.

After shaking hands, signing autographs and posing for photos with volunteers, Ryan addressed a gathering of several hundred supporters in the parking lot.

Standing in front of a Romney-Ryan campaign bus, he gave a brief speech, thanked them for their support and their work and asked them to make a big push at the end to help Republicans win.

"Let's run to the tape," Ryan said to cheers after saying Nevada could make the difference.

The heavy campaigning in Nevada came as the two contenders, their running mates and wives hopscotched across the country to visit a dozen battleground states that will decide the winner.

Romney campaigned in Virginia on Thursday. Either Romney or Ryan are expected to hit Nevada again before Election Day, signaling its importance in the White House race.

A new poll of likely voters in Nevada showed Obama edging Romney 50 percent to 46 percent. The SurveyUSA poll was commissioned by the Las Vegas Review-Journal and 8NewsNow.

The president was leading Romney 52-46 among those who said they had voted early, according to the poll.

Obama is counting on more Democratic ballots to build a firewall to hold off his challenger on Election Day, when more Republicans are expected to turn out to vote.

As of Thursday, more than 578,000 Nevadans had voted early or cast absentee ballots for a 46 percent turnout. Of those, about 44 percent were Democrats and 38 percent Republicans.

Nevada is considered a must-win state, although it offers only six Electoral College votes out of the 270 needed to win the White House contest. Romney needs the Silver State to patch together enough smaller swing states to make up the difference if he loses Ohio, the big election prize.

Obama, too, is counting on scoring a second victory here after winning Nevada in 2008, smashing his GOP opponent, U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., by 12 percentage points. The president can afford to lose Nevada, but only if he puts away other big states in play.

Thursday's visit was Obama's 10th to Nevada this year, demonstrating the state's importance.

During his 30-minute speech in Las Vegas, Obama argued the country has begun to recover from the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. The Silver State was hit harder than most and still has the highest unemployment rate in the nation at 11.8 percent.

"Nevada, we know our work is not yet done," Obama said. "Our work is not done as long there's a single American who wants a job and can't yet find one."

He pleaded for another four years to finish what he started.

"We knew from the beginning that our work would take more than one year or even one term," the president said.

Obama blamed lobbyists and specialist interests for creating gridlock in Washington, D.C., which he said had blocked some of his agenda that would get the country moving again.

Romney, however, has argued that his pro-business policies would lead to a quicker recovery, promising 12 million new jobs in his first term. Obama has created more than 5 million jobs.

In Virginia, Romney slammed Obama as being out of ideas about how to revive the economy. And he mocked Obama for suggesting he might create a "department of business" to create jobs.

"We don't need a secretary of business to understand business; we need a president who understands business, and I do," Romney said. "That's why I will be able to get this economy going. This isn't the time for small measures. This is a time for greatness. This is a time for big change, for real change."

Romney is the former head of Bain Capital and a former governor of Massachusetts.

Obama, however, said Democratic policies have worked better. He cited former President Bill Clinton as the best example of building the economy from the middle class out and not from the top down as he said Romney would do. The president told the Las Vegas rally that 23 million jobs were created during Clinton's two terms and that he left a budget surplus.

Former President George W. Bush then came along and gave tax breaks and launched wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that busted the country, Obama said.

"We know that our ideas work. We also know the ideas that don't work," he said.

"He says he's the change candidate," Obama added of Romney, shaking his head. "We know what change looks like. And what the governor's offering sure ain't change."

Obama said he had signed $1 trillion in spending cuts already to deal with the $16 trillion debt. He said he wants to end Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy to help pay down more of the debt.

"We don't need a big government agenda or a small government agenda," said Obama, who rolled up his sleeves and wore no jacket in the heat. "We need a middle-class agenda."

Obama urged voters to get their friends and families to the polls today or on Election Day. And he said if they worked hard, he would win Nevada a second time and the White House.

"Let's go vote. Let's get this done," Obama said.

Obama also gave shout-outs to other Democrats on the ticket, including U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., who needs a boost from the president in her campaign against U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev. The two are locked in a tight race, and polls show Heller leading Berkley ahead of the election.

Ryan promoted Heller and other Republicans on the ticket.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact reporter Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919. Follow her on Twitter @lmyerslvrj.