Mitt Romney holds a rally at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., on Monday.(Photo: Emmanuel Dunand, AFP/Getty Images)
FAIRFAX, Va. -- Mitt Romney's presidential campaign was scheduled to
conclude Monday with a rally in Manchester, N.H., with thousands of
cheering supporters and a performance by musician Kid Rock.
Now it will end in a steel town.
Romney
will spend the final hours of the 2012 campaign rallying supporters in
Pittsburgh and Cleveland -- Pennsylvania and Ohio being two states where
some polls show the Republican nominee and President Obama in a close
battle.
Romney adviser Stuart Stevens said there would be millions
of volunteers helping Romney to get out the vote on Election Day, and
Romney wanted to be able to be with and thank them in person.
But his last-minute change of plans is yet another sign of a tight election.
On
his last full day of campaigning, Romney held five events in four
states - stopping in airplane hangars in Sanford, Fla., and Lynchburg,
Va., before heading to the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va. - where 8,500
supporters cheered inside the hall and 2,000 listened in from outside,
according to the campaign.
There, Romney brought up the card-check
issue. The legislation would change procedures to make it easier for
workers to recognize a union. Pushed at the beginning of Obama's term,
it was abandoned when it hit a dead end in the Democratic-controlled
House. Obama was a sponsor of the bill as a senator.
MORE: Electoral Vote Tracker
"How
about his plan to require companies to have unions whether the
employees want to vote for them or not? Card check! Does that create
jobs?" Romney asked as a part of his criticism of the president's
policies.
"No," the crowd replied.
After the rally in
Fairfax, Romney traveled to Columbus, Ohio, and planned to end the day
in New Hampshire, the state where he launched his campaign in June
2011, at an 11 p.m. rally in Manchester.
As Romney spoke, the crowd chanted, "One more day! One more day!"
After the rally in Florida, Romney taped a video message that will air on Monday Night Football this evening.
Throughout
the weekend, Romney reminded voters in key swing states the importance
of not only voting themselves but getting their friends and neighbors to
the polls as well. In Florida, the message was no different.
"Look,
we have one job left, and that's to make sure that on Election Day ... we
make certain that everybody who is qualified to vote, gets out to
vote," Romney said. "We need every single vote in Florida."
As he
traveled from state to state, Romney was surrounded by close advisers -
including his brother Scott Romney, longtime friend Bill White, senior
advisers Ron Kaufman and Kevin Madden, strategist Russ Schriefer,
Spencer Zwick and Romney's national finance director and policy
director, Lanhee Chen, among others. His wife, Ann, joined him at the
Fairfax stop.
Romney press secretary Rick Gorka said the mood in the front cabin was "light" and said there was "a lot of reminiscing."
"It's
been an incredible journey," he said. "We are very, very, excited for
these last events today (and) very, very, optimistic about our chances
tomorrow.
USA Today