The economy remains the top issue for voters, and a new set of data released Friday paints a picture of an uneven economic recovery in a series of battleground states.

Of the nine states categorized as "battleground states" by NBC News, five had state unemployment rates below the national unemployment rate of 7.8 percent in September, according to preliminary estimates released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The other four states suffered from a higher-than-average jobless rates, the highest of which was in Nevada; the BLS said that 11.8 percent of Nevadans were unemployed through September, the highest unemployment rate of all 50 states. (One U.S. territory, Puerto Rico, had a higher jobless rate.)

Friday's news is the last series of state-level unemployement data voters will receive before Election Day. One last national jobs report is due Nov. 2, the Friday before voters head to the polls.

President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney have each made jobs the centerpiece of their respective campaigns. The president got a boost earlier this month when the BLS report showed the unemployment rate dropping below 8 percent for the first time in years, disarming Romney of one of his most potent cudgels versus the president.

But as each Obama and Romney travel the country over the next 18 days looking to secure the 270 electoral votes they need to win the White House, economic optimism might be brighter in some states and still dim in others.

The five states with unemployment rates below 7.8 percent included Iowa (5.2 percent), New Hampshire (5.7 percent), Ohio (7.0 percent), Virginia (5.9 percent) and Wisconsin (7.3 percent).

The four battleground states with unemployment rates above the national average are Colorado (8.0 percent), Florida (8.7 percent), Nevada and North Carolina (9.6 percent).

If, for purposes of speculation, Obama were to win the battleground states with jobless rates beneath 7.8 percent along with all of the other states considered more safely in his column, he would win the Electoral College, 288-250.

But politics, of course, are not that simple. For instance, the number of employees on nonfarm payrolls in Ohio actually decreased between August and September, though the unemployment rate dropped from 7.2 percent to 7 percent over the same period.

But as Obama argues that the economy is moving forward and Romney asserts that the recovery has not been sufficiently robust, it's helpful to remember how those arguments might sound different to voters in differing states.

Updated 4:22 p.m. - MOUNT VERNON, IA -- President Barack Obama seized on Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s rhetoric and record on Wednesday with the same aggression he displayed during his second face-to-face meeting with Romney at last night's town hall debate.

Speaking this afternoon in Iowa, the president was quick to revive Romney's response Tuesday night to a question about pay equity between the sexes, in which he touted his record of hiring women as Massachusetts governor by saying he had “binders full of women” who were qualified to be hired.

“I’ve gotta tell you, we don’t have to collect a bunch of binders to find qualified, talented, terrific young women ready to work and teach in these fields right now!” Obama exclaimed as a crowd of 2,800 at Cornell College, outside Cedar Rapids, cheered.

Related: Sharp exchanges at second debate

He also hit Romney over his sales pitch for lowering taxes, saying Romney’s plan is not to be trusted because it contains so few specifics.

“Iowa, you know, everybody here's heard of the New Deal, you've heard of the Fair Deal, you've heard of the Square Deal. Mitt Romney's trying to sell you a sketchy deal,” he said, using the same adjective – “sketchy” – that he premiered last night at Hofstra.

Many of Obama's attacks were similar to those he voiced during last night's debate. That differed from Obama's post-debate appearance after his first debate versus Romney, where the president's attacks seemed as thought they came a day late.

One such attack was ridiculing Romney’s “five-point plan” as a “one-point plan” given its lack of specifics and goal of, as Obama says, raising taxes on the middle class to pay for a tax cut for the wealthy. 

Despite deploying lines Wednesday that he seemed to believe succeeded the night before, Obama still played down his own performance, telling the crowd that he’s “still trying to figure out how to get the hang of this thing, debating it.”

“But we’re working on it. We’ll keep on improving as time goes on. I’ve got one left,” he told the crowd.

And he has one campaign event left Wednesday, in the thick of the swing state of Ohio.

The Romney campaign responded to Obama's event with a response that noted Obama said at the debate, that "there are some jobs that are not going to come back" because of the uneven economic recovery.

"President Obama has no new ideas, no vision for the future, and is simply giving up. The choice in this election couldn’t be clearer. Mitt Romney has bold new ideas that will cut taxes for middle-class families, create 12 million new jobs with higher take-home pay, and cut spending to put our nation on a course toward a balanced budget,” spokesman Ryan Williams said in a statement.

Mitt Romney vowed he would govern as a "pro-life president" after telling an Iowa newspaper on Tuesday that he wouldn't seek legislation affecting access to abortion.

The Republican presidential nominee, speaking to reporters during a stop Wednesday afternoon in Ohio, said he would act immediately as president to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood and reinstate the so-called "Mexico City Policy," which prohibits the use of federal funds for promoting of performing abortions abroad.

Slideshow: On the campaign trail

"I think I've said time and again. I'm a pro-life candidate. I'll be a pro-life president," Romney said. "The actions I'll take immediately are to remove funding for Planned Parenthood. It will not be part of my budget. And also I've indicated I'll reverse the Mexico City position of the president. I will reinstate the Mexico City policy."

RELATED: Obama team says Romney 'trying to cover up' views on abortion

Romney told the editorial board of the Des Moines Register that he has "no legislation with regards to abortion that I’m familiar with that would become part of my agenda."

His campaign subsequently said Romney would "of course support legislation aimed at providing greater protections for life," prompting the Obama campaign to pounce, and accuse their Republican opponent of obfuscating his true position on abortion rights.

"We're not saying that he's changed his mind on these issues, we're saying he's trying to cover up his beliefs," Obama campaign deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter said in a Wednesday conference call.

VAN METER, Iowa -- Mitt Romney said Tuesday that he had actually met one of the Navy SEALs to have been killed in the Sept. 11 attacks on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Evan Vucci / AP

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney shakes hands during a campaign rally, Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012, in Van Meter, Iowa.

A day after delivering a major foreign policy speech -- which included sharp criticism of President Barack Obama's response to the terrorist attack -- Romney acknowledged having met the SEAL, Glen Doherty, during a past holiday party.

"This is kind of a strange story so bear with me here," Romney told an audience on a farm outside of Des Moines.  He went on to say that he and his wife, Ann Romney, had been invited to a neighborhood Christmas party a few years ago, but they inadvertently went to the wrong party.

"We were a little embarrassed, but they treated us well nonetheless.  And I got to meet some really interesting people," Romney continued. 

One of them, Romney said, was a former Navy SEAL from Romney's home state of Massachusetts.

"He told me that he keeps going back to the Middle East," Romney recalled.

"He cares very deeply about the people there. He served in the military there, went back from time to time to offer security services and so forth to people there. You can imagine how I felt when I found out that he was one of the two former Navy SEALS killed in Benghazi on September 11th."

The events in Benghazi have become a charged issue in the campaign, as Obama defends himself against charges that the consulate was poorly protected.

The attack resulted in the death of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, the first ambassador killed in the line duty in three decades. Three other Americans were killed, including two former U.S. Navy SEALs working as security contractors.

The Romney campaign later confirmed to reporters that the man Romney met at that party in La Jolla, CA, several years ago was Doherty, of Winchester, Mass.

A neighbor of Romney's reached out to the candidate last week to notify Romney of the coincidence. Doherty's sister said the campaign had notified her family that Romney would speak about the late SEAL, and the family set up a foundation in his honor in anticipation of the mention.

CLINTON, Iowa -- Republican vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan sought to add some specifics to Mitt Romney's proposals on Tuesday amid criticism that the GOP ticket hadn't fully detailed its plans.

Responding to a woman's question about why Ryan wouldn't answer a question this past Sunday on Fox News about the Romney-Ryan tax plan's math, Ryan argued the television format didn't give him enough time.

Kevin Schmidt / AP

Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan speaks to a crowd in Clinton, Iowa Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012.

“When you get into math conversation, it can take a little while. Let me give you some specific answers right now,” the Wisconsin congressman said early Tuesday morning standing outside the Clinton County Courthouse. He continued to tick through their 5-point plan for a strong middle class including about energy, education, trade.

“The problem is, it just took me about 5 minutes to go into all of this with you and when you are on a 30-second TV show, you can’t do it as much. But the point is, go to our website, you can see all this,” Ryan said after a several minute riff about their policies. “Mitt Romney has put more specifics, more details about how to grow the economy, about how to save Medicare, Social Security, about how to prevent the debt crisis than the incumbent President of the United States has.”

President Obama’s re-election campaign shot back at these claims in a statement.

"Congressman Ryan can't attend his own campaign rallies without being called out for failing to provide specifics about what Mitt Romney would do if elected. That's because just one day before the first debate, Mitt Romney has refused to say which deductions he'd cut for the middle class in order to pay for his $250,000 tax cuts for multi-millionaires,” spokesman Danny Kanner wrote. “And he's refused to say how he'd replace Obamacare or Wall Street reform to protect middle class families or prevent the big banks from writing their own rules again. They won't share those details with the country because they know that the details are bad for middle class Americans.”

Ryan’s stop here along the Mississippi River was a homecoming for his wife, Janna, and her two sisters and father, who joined at the event in Eastern Iowa. Prudence Petersen Little, Janna’s mother, moved to a house in Clinton when she was very young and Janna’s grandmother remained in the home until 2004.

The Ryans stopped by the red-painted home following the town hall here to meet with the new owners and the three Little girls reminisced on memories of visiting when they were growing up.

The congressman finishes off Tuesday in the Hawkeye State with two more events in Muscatine and Burlington.

Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

President Barack Obama shakes hands after holding a round table discussion with first time voters at OMG Burger in Miami on Sept. 20, 2012.

President Barack Obama leads Mitt Romney in Colorado, Iowa and Wisconsin, reaching the key 50 percent support threshold in all three battlegrounds, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls of these states.

In both Colorado and Wisconsin, Obama is ahead by 5 points among likely voters (including those leaning toward a candidate), 50 percent to 45 percent.

And in Iowa, the president’s edge over Romney is 8 points, 50 percent to 42 percent.

Read the Colorado poll results here (.pdf)

Among a wider sample of registered voters, Obama’s lead is even larger – 6 points in Colorado, 8 in Wisconsin and 11 in Iowa.

While Obama still hasn't closed the deal, says Marist College pollster Lee Miringoff, “The advantage is his in all three states.”

He adds, “It is very important in an election when you start closing in on 50 [percent]. In politics that is a big number.”

The results from these new polls are similar to the NBC/WSJ/Marist surveys of Florida, Ohio and Virginia that were released last week. Those showed Obama ahead in all three battlegrounds. And they’re consistent with this week’s national NBC/WSJ poll (conducted by different pollsters) that found Obama up by 5 points among likely voters, 50 percent to 45 percent.

Romney’s favorability vs. Obama’s
These new surveys – conducted after the political firestorm over last week’s attacks on U.S. embassies in Libya and Egypt, and during the melee over a leaked video of Romney talking about the “47 percent” of Americans who are dependent on government and believe they are victims – also show the Republican’s favorability rating in an unenviable place.

Slideshow: On the campaign trail

Reuters, Getty Images

In the final push in the 2012 presidential election, candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama make their last appeals to voters.

Launch slideshow

A plurality of likely voters view Romney in a negative light in all three states. In Colorado, it’s 43 percent favorable to 50 percent unfavorable; in Iowa, it’s 42 percent to 50 percent; and in Wisconsin, it’s 43 percent to 46 percent.

By contrast, out of last week’s polls in Florida, Ohio and Virginia, just one of them – Ohio – found Romney’s favorable/unfavorable rating under water.

Read the Wisconsin poll results here (.pdf)

Meanwhile, Obama’s favorable/unfavorable scores in Colorado (51 percent to 45 percent), Iowa (53 percent to 42 percent), and Wisconsin (51 percent to 44 percent) are all above water.

Romney casts himself as 'change' candidate in seizing on Obama comment

Yet the president’s job approval rating in these states is a bit lower – 47 percent in Colorado, 48 percent in Wisconsin, and 49 percent in Iowa.

Tied on the economy
According to these polls, Obama and Romney are essentially battling to a tie on the question of which candidate would do a better job in handling the economy. In Wisconsin, 46 percent of likely voters pick Romney, while 45 percent select Obama.

But in Colorado, the president gets 48 percent, and the GOP nominee gets 46 percent. And in Iowa, Obama is up by four points, 47 percent to 43 percent.

Read the Iowa poll results here (.pdf)

Yet when it comes to which candidate would do a better job on foreign policy, the president enjoys a double-digit advantage in all three states.

Other notable numbers

• In Republican running mate Paul Ryan’s home state of Wisconsin, his favorable/unfavorable score among likely voters is 49 percent to 40 percent (versus 51 percent to 44 percent for Obama, 43 percent to 46 percent for Romney, and 42 percent to 45 percent for Vice President Joe Biden).
• In Wisconsin’s competitive Senate contest, Democrat Tammy Baldwin gets support from 48 percent of likely voters, and Republican Tommy Thompson gets 46 percent.
• Obama is ahead among independents in all three states – by 1 point in Wisconsin, 10 points in Iowa and 11 points in Colorado.
• And there’s a significant gender gap in these three states, with the president up by double digits among women and with Romney slightly ahead among men.

The NBC/WSJ/Marist polls were conducted Sept. 16-18 of 971 likely voters in Colorado (which has a margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points), 898 likely voters in Iowa (plus-minus 3.3 percentage points) and 968 likely voters in Wisconsin (plus-minus 3.2 percentage points).

About a quarter of all likely voters in these three states were interviewed by cell phone.

NBC’s Natalie Cucchiara contributed to this report.

OTTUMWA, IA -- Vice President Joe Biden, the man who is often the first to charge into the political fray on President Barack Obama's behalf, held his tongue Tuesday in regard to a controversy involving Mitt Romney.

Asked by reporters to comment on the GOP presidential nominee's surreptitiously recorded comments referencing 47 percent of Americans do not "take personal responsibility" and feel "entitled" to government benefits, Biden said only that he'll let Romney's words "speak for themselves."

Related: Conservatives reaction mixed to Romney 47 percent video

Biden, appearing at a campaign event in swing state Iowa, did not mention today's firestorm over the Romney comments during a 25-minute speech to about 450 supporters, concentrating instead on familiar attacks over the GOP ticket's Medicare and tax proposals.

Recommended: Leaked video is the latest hit for Romney

The Romney remarks were recorded at a fundraiser earlier this year and leaked to magazine Mother Jones. Late yesterday, the candidate said the sentiment was expressed in an "inartful" way but that he stands by his overall philosophy of smaller government.

Biden next heads to Grinnell, Iowa this afternoon before wrapping up his 2-day tour of the Hawkeye State.

Updated at 4:30pm ET Iowa is crucial to President Barack Obama winning a second term and just in case the Iowa delegates at the Democratic convention in Charlotte, N.C., might forget that fact, even for a moment, an all-star cast of speakers is showing up at the Iowa delegation’s breakfasts this week to flatter them, exhort them and remind them of how important they are.

John Brecher / NBC News

Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker speaks to Iowa delegates at their breakfast event prior to the Democratic National Convention on Monday, Sept. 3, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The Iowa delegates gave rousing welcomes to mayors Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles and Cory Booker of Newark, N.J., Monday morning at the delegation’s breakfast.

Related -- First Thoughts: The enthusiasm gap

Noting that he had worked as a union organizer for 25 years before being elected to the California legislature, Villaraigosa said Democrats’ grass roots organization is the key to victory. “We’re going to be knocking on doors, we’re going to be calling voters; we know that Iowa is critical to this election and I hope to visit.”

In fact, the Los Angeles mayor will be the keynote speaker at the Iowa Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner on Oct. 20.  

Booker warned the delegates of the lack of fervor that cost Democrats the New Jersey governor’s race in 2009. “If we had the same kind of enthusiasm, the same kind of energy, the same kind of organizing, the same kind of voter turnout that we did in 2008, we would have easily won in 2009,” Booker said. “The point is very simple: it’s not about them, it is about us, it is about how well we organize, how much we go door to door.”

Booker mentioned to the Iowans that his great-grandparents moved to Iowa from Alabama and that his grandmother was born in Des Moines in 1918. Telling the delegates that the election has big consequences – such as who appoints the next Supreme Court justice – Booker again brought up his family roots in assessing the election’s impact: “What’s exciting to me is that just like my personal family history, it’s going to turn on the state of Iowa.”

John Brecher / NBC News

Sue Dvorsky, Chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, listens to Newark Mayor Cory Booker speak to Iowa delegates at their breakfast event prior to the Democratic National Convention on Monday in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Iowa is where it all began for Obama with his dramatic caucus win in 2008 and it might be where victory is decided on Nov. 6. The importance of the state’s six electoral votes was underscored again this week by the rival campaigns’ scheduling: Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan will be speaking at rallies in Adel and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Tuesday.

And Obama is heading back to Iowa the day after his acceptance speech to rally young voters at the University of Iowa – after just having campaigned in Sioux City and Urbandale on Saturday.

Iowa ranks sixth among the states in the amount of money being spent on TV ads by each side, behind Florida, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, and Colorado, according to NBC ad tracking data. The Obama campaign and Democratic outside groups have spent $22 million in Iowa so far, compared to $24 million spent by the Romney campaign and GOP outside groups.

Recommended: Over 800 Latino delegates ready to rally for Obama as Democratic convention begins today

Alluding to the enthusiasm gap that Booker warned against, delegate Dennis Roseman, a retired University of Iowa mathematics professor and an active and early Obama supporter in 2008, said that things today are different from four years ago when Obama won Iowa in the caucuses and again in November.

“Four years ago was very exciting, it was all very new, it was all about change and what’s possible,” Roseman said. “We didn’t have the depth of the economic problems that we are facing right now. Even though things are improving, people’s attitudes are somewhat negative, having suffered through a lot. So right now it’s a struggle, no doubt about it.”

He added, “We’re doing really well in our part of the state and there’s a lot of enthusiasm – but we have a big state and we have to really fight hard to stave off either complacency or a certain amount of negativism.”

A big student vote for Obama is vital. In 2008, Obama won 70 percent of the vote in Johnson County, home of the University of Iowa, with a margin of more than 30,000 votes over Republican John McCain.

Recommended: Obama courts labor voters in auto industry's footprint

Since Iowa is already a state with very high voter registration, Sue Dvorsky, chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, said the Democrats concentrate on adding new voters by registering college and university students “which can’t happen until they get back (to school in September) so now that effort is full-blown.”

Obama’s Friday campaign event at the University of Iowa will focus on college students “because we know that’s where our new registrants are,” Dvorsky said.

Republicans point to the 28,000 increase in active GOP voter registrations since 2008, but Dvorsky explained this by pointing to competitive GOP intraparty battles which had spurred interest among Republicans. “They’ve had three consecutive primaries. They had a very, very vigorous gubernatorial primary in 2010 that we didn’t have, then they had the (presidential) caucuses with multiple candidates and multiple winners that we didn’t have. And then they had a record number of primaries against their own (state legislature) incumbents – from the Right.”

As for the Republican advantage in voter registration (as of August), Dvorsky said she anticipated that when the Iowa Secretary of State’s office releases new numbers on Tuesday “we will have bitten into that substantially.”

She added that Republicans greatly improved their voter turnout effort in 2010, for example, “their vote by mail went by about 100 percent.”

But she portrays the Iowa GOP as divided among the Ron Paul forces, the Rick Santorum backers, and Mitt Romney’s supporters, calling it “a party that is still fairly fractured.”

Recommended: Some big-name Democrats will be skipping Charlotte

She also pointed to another motivation for Democrats to turn out on Election Day: the battle for control of the state Senate – the last line of defense for Democrats against legislation they oppose, since Gov. Terry Branstad is a Republican and the state House is Republican-controlled.

The Democrats now hold a one-seat majority in the state Senate. On Election Day, there will be 26 competitive state Senate elections.

“We believe we are in an existential position: we have (a) one seat (majority) in the Senate,” she said. “It must be retained. There is no option for us to fail.”

Asked about the Republicans’ great success in 2010 elections in Iowa and whether that’s a harbinger for this November, State Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal said, “You can point to 2010 and I can point to 2011 – last fall, a special election in a suburban district, Cedar Rapids, handpicked by the Republicans to pick up after appointing a Democratic state senator to the Iowa Utilities Board. They thought that was a seat they were pretty much guaranteed to get back” and create a tie in the state Senate.

But, Gronstal said, “We put together a great get-out-the-vote effort. We do that better than the Republicans in Iowa and we won that election handily in the end.”

Obama must rely on that same kind of get-out-the-vote effort on Nov. 6 to keep Iowa in his column.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Mitt Romney would be elected president if the election were held today, the Republican National Committee's chairman boldly predicted Monday.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus predicted a Romney victory based on projected wins in several swing states (polls of which are less definitively optimistic for Romney).

"I feel real good that if the election was held today, we’d be winning today. If the election is tied, we’re going to win the election," Priebus said during a press conference today kicking off the GOP’s "rapid response" effort during the Democratic National Convention.

"Independents are not going to suddenly have an epiphany," Priebus continued, "and decide that everything is great."

Pressed by a reporter on which states Romney would win if the election were held today, Priebus doubled down.

"For one, I think we win Wisconsin today," Priebus said of his home state, adding: "I think we win Florida today. I think we win Virginia. I think that we win Iowa."

Priebus said Romney would be close in Ohio, a state he called a "toss-up."

Yet demonstrating the GOP’s not-so easy electoral map in November, Romney winning Wisconsin, Florida, Virginia, and Iowa would still leave him short of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency, especially if Romney doesn’t carry Ohio.

The GOP will hold press conferences several times daily this week, inside a television studio nestled in the basement of Charlotte’s NASCAR museum.

"Today, the thrill and pixie dust of Barack Obama’s presidency is gone. Americans feel no hope, and have seen a change for the worst," Priebus told reporters. "Democrats are dispirited.  Enthusiasm is clearly on the Republican side."

Priebus was joined today by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT). Other officials slated to participate in the GOP effort here include Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.