Politics

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SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: And I'm Scott Horsley, traveling with President Obama, who's eager to regain the advantage he once enjoyed with women voters. The Obama campaign spent much of yesterday taking Governor Romney to task for what some regard as his out-of-date comments about women in the workplace.

Mr. Obama drove the point home last night in front of 14,000 supporters on a college campus in Athens, Ohio.

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It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.

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And I'm David Greene. Good morning.

After their lively town hall debate on Long Island Tuesday night, President Obama and his Republican rival Mitt Romney jetted off in different directions yesterday to rally the faithful and woo the undecided in some key battleground states.

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It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene.

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And I'm Renee Montagne.

President Obama spent part of this week's debate pressing his opponent on the federal deficit. Mitt Romney has promised to cut tax rates by 20 percent, but he's vague about how he would do that without making the deficit even bigger. Mr. Obama promised he would raise taxes on the wealthy.

Former Maine Gov. Angus King is convinced that if the math works out he could be the power broker in the U.S. Senate, the independent candidate whose vote will break the political gridlock in Washington. But first he has some explaining to do.

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has been firmly anti-abortion during this campaign.

But during Tuesday's debate on Long Island, N.Y., Romney charged that President Obama misrepresented his position on birth control. Here's what Obama said, during what began as a discussion of pay equity for women:

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ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

It's too early to tell if President Obama's performance last night will stop his slide in the polls, but we're going to focus now on one poll and one question in which the president, in his worst stretch of this campaign, actually gained ground. The question was, who would you rather have babysit your children?

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

That's right. When the ABC News/Washington Post poll put that question to registered voters last week, 49 percent chose President Obama, 36 percent Governor Romney. Two weeks before, they were tied.

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ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

And I'm Melissa Block. President Obama stood today in Iowa, in front of a crowd of enthusiastic college students and struck a seemingly humble pose about last night's debate.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: You know, I'm still trying to figure out, you know, how to get the hang of this thing, debating. But we're working on it.

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ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Now, to NPR's Ari Shapiro, who's traveling with Mitt Romney. The Republican flew this morning to Chesapeake, Virginia, for a rally. And Ari, what did he have to say about last night's debate?

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Well, he came out sounding chipper and he relived the moments of the debate that he was proudest of. This was right near the start of his stump speech today.

Just days after Rev. Billy Graham endorsed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's bid for the White House, the website of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has stopped overtly listing the candidate's religion among what it says are "cults."