WEST CHESTER, OH -- Launching a final pre-election sprint, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney capped a pivotal day for his campaign with one of his largest rallies ever here in Ohio flanked by the party's top leaders.

Romney and vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan told tens of thousands of Ohioans that they were joining a movement to bring change to Washington, an argument set to play out in a state Ryan called the "battleground of battlegrounds."

"I've watched over the last few months as our campaign has gathered, well the strength of a movement," Romney said. "Not only the size of crowds likes this, its the depth of our shared convictions. Our readiness for new possibilities. The sense that our work is soon to begin. its made me strive more to be worthy of your support. To campaign as I would govern. To speak for the aspiration of all Americans."

The event gathered dozens of elected Republicans who will fan out across Ohio and a variety of other swing states this weekend in hopes of pulling those states into the Republican column on Tuesday. The area where Romney held his rally is a more Republican enclave outside of Cincinnati, where the margin between him and Obama could make the difference on Tuesday.

The army of Republican heavyweights included former presidential candidates like Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Arizona Sen. John McCain. They will disperse across the country, though no state may be more pivotal to the Republican ticket's fortunes than Ohio.

"Your state is the one I’m counting on by the way. This is the one we have to win," Romney said.

"Ohio you know it -- you are the lynch pin," Ryan said. "You are the battleground of battlegrounds!"

The speech mostly mirrored the "closing argument" Romney first delivered this morning in Wisconsin, promising "real change" to voters who are disappointed with Obama.

Romney attacked President Barack Obama for today's small uptick in the unemployment rate (to 7.9 percent, even as job creation beat expectations with 171,000 new jobs created in October) and chastised the president for telling an Ohio audience "voting is the best revenge" earlier this afternoon.

"Did you see what President Obama said today? He asked his supporters to vote for revenge," Romney said. "For revenge. Instead I ask the American people to vote for love of country."

Before the top of the ticket took the stage, other speakers looked to keep the chilly crowd fired up, following a concert from Romney supporter Kid Rock.

"We are freezin' for a reason, aren't we," joked Sen. Rob Portman, who chairs Romney's campaign in the state, and urged supporters to take advantage of early voting again on Saturday.

"Can we afford four more years like [those under President Obama]?" asked Speaker of the House John Boehner, in whose district the rally was staged. "Hell no we can't!"

As Romney stuck mostly to script, some of the many surrogates who preceded him riffed on a broader scope of issues. Several Republicans, including 2008 nominee and Arizona Sen. John McCain, sharply criticized Obama's handling of a deadly September assault on a diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya. Romney had also been a fierce critic of the president's handling of the incident, but has all but dropped that element from his campaign.

Democrats pounced on the rally as evidence that Romney would not govern in the bipartisan manner he regularly promises on the stump.

"Speaker after speaker offered angry, hyper partisan, and widely-debunked attacks that—at times—veered into conspiracy theory territory," said Obama campaign spokesperson Lis Smith in a statement. "It’s a fitting end to Mitt Romney’s campaign, since he has kowtowed to the far-right wing of the Republican Party throughout the six years he’s been running for President, leaving little doubt that he’d rubberstamp the Tea Party agenda in the White House."

PATASKALA, OH -- Mitt Romney took his campaign's "closing argument" for a test drive in a Columbus, Ohio suburb on Friday, pledging bipartisan work toward "real change," and accusing President Barack Obama of failing to keep his promises.

"So this is a president who has promised a lot of things, but his record is very different than the promises," Romney said, abandoning the teleprompter he used during the speech -- but echoing the prepared remarks -- he delivered this morning in Wisconsin.

"Instead of building the bridges that we needed in America, he built a broader and broader divide. And I have a very different approach. I recognize that this president is again making new promises, and these are promises he can't keep, just like the last ones, because he says he's going to keep us on the same path we're on," Romney continued.

The closing argument, heavy on criticism of Obama's record and still wrapped largely around Romney's five-point plan for fixing the economy, also attempts to drive home the image of Romney as the "change" candidate this cycle.

“Accomplishing change is not just something I talk about, it is something I have actually done," Romney told a few thousand supporters gathered on a factory floor here, going on to cite his experiencing launching a business and turning around another as examples.

The Obama campaign brushed off Romney's claims of bringing about real change as simply "not true," arguing in a statement from spokesperson Lis Smith that Romney's version of change was to "bring back the failed policies of the past that crashed the economy and punished the middle class in the first place.

Romney will make one final campaign stop today at a rally outside Cincinnati, where he is expected to draw upwards of 10,000 supporters to an event where he'll be joined by 100 Republican leaders, who will then fan out across the state and the country on behalf of the Republican ticket.

Romney noted the importance of the Buckeye state, telling his audience they were "probably going to decide the next President of the United States." He made no mention, though, of the auto industry bailout nor his campaign's recent controversial ads about Jeep. Obama, also campaigning Friday in Ohio, used those points to pummel Romney on the stump.

Updated 2:35 p.m. ET -- Four days before voters head to the polls, President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney sought to bring their different economic visions into sharp relief before throngs of Midwestern voters who could decide the election.

Romney, who delivered on Friday what he said was the “closing argument” of his campaign, said the economy was hopelessly mired in stagnation under Obama, and promised to deliver “real change” if elected.

Jim Young / Reuters

Supporters of Mitt Romney gesture at a campaign rally in West Allis, Wis., Nov. 2, 2012.

Obama pointed to green shoots of economic recovery while barnstorming battleground Ohio, accusing his Republican opponent of deception on the question of change, as well as the 2009 auto industry rescue that could swing the outcome of the election.

Romney started the day with a speech in the battleground state of Wisconsin, assailing Obama for having failed at his promise to change Washington; Romney said his experience in the private sector and as governor of Massachusetts has shown he can boost the economy and bridge partisan divides that have grinded lawmaking in the nation’s capital to a virtual halt.

“The question of this election comes down to this: do you want more of the same or do you want real change?” Romney asked. “President Obama promised change, but he could not deliver it. I promise change, and I have a record of achieving it.”

A robust campaign schedule for Obama and Romney, along with their running mates, brought the campaign back to its central issue -- jobs and the economy -- just as a key monthly employment report showed that the U.S. added more jobs than expected in October. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that the economy added 171,000 jobs last month -- though the unemployment rate inched upward to 7.9 percent as the size of the American workforce grew.

Check out the NBC News' Election Briefing Book

“This morning we learned that companies hired more workers in October than at any time in the last eight months,” Obama said at a Friday rally in Ohio. “We've made real progress, but we are here today because we know we've got more work to do. As long as there's a single American who wants a job but can't find one ... our fight goes on.”

The stasis in campaigning that set in following the landfall of Hurricane Sandy earlier this week had all but faded Friday, as both campaigns resumed their full-throated critiques of one another.

Romney sought to wrest the mantle of “change” away from Obama, continuing on a theme he has stressed in recent weeks, and going so far as warning on Friday that if the U.S. doesn't change course, it could risk slipping back into recession.

Obama has long blamed Republican obstructionism and special interests for impeding his agenda, and thereby, the pace of economic recovery.

Romney, who made his first stop in Wisconsin since naming Paul Ryan, a congressman from the state, as his running mate, suggested his experience as governor of Massachusetts and a former private equity executive would help him succeed where Obama had failed.

Jobs data unlikely to sway undecided voters

"I have watched over these last few months as our campaign has gathered the strength of a movement," Romney said. "I will reach out to both sides of the aisle. I will bring people together, doing big things for the common good. I won’t just represent one party, I’ll represent one nation. I’ll try to show the best of America, at a time when only our best will do."

Romney traveled next to Ohio, where he would join Obama in courting the vote of the Buckeye State -- a pivotal Midwestern battleground where the outcome could determine the winner of the Electoral College.

There, the president upbraided Romney on the notion that the Republican nominee could deliver change, ridiculing the GOP nominee’s proposals as little more than warmed-over leftovers from the Bush administration.

“We know what the right choice is, but let's face it, Gov. Romney is a talented salesman,” he said, accusing his Republican opponent of repackaging tired GOP ideas. “We know what change looks like, and what the governor's offering ain't it.”

The Obama campaign has relied on Ohio to serve as a kind of “firewall” for the president, concentrating for months on building an advantage over Romney in hopes of impeding the GOP candidate’s path to 270 electoral votes. Obama has led Romney by a slim, but consistent, margin in most public polls, prompting the Republican ticket to ratchet up its attacks on the administration’s handling of the auto industry bailout.

Romney’s offensive includes a series of new ads taking aim at the president on the issue of the auto industry bailout, stoking (incorrect) fears that Jeep would move production and jobs from the U.S. to China.

First Thoughts: A status-quo election?

Those suggestions earned him a strong rebuke from both the president, as well as Vice President Biden, who campaigned in Wisconsin, a state that has reliably supported Democrats in recent presidential cycles.

"Everyone knows it’s not true. The car companies themselves have told Gov. Romney to knock it off," Obama said of the ads, accusing Romney of trying to scare the state’s autoworkers. "You don’t scare hardworking Americans just to scare up some votes. That’s not what being president is all about. That’s not leadership."

Biden, speaking in Beloit, went a step further: “In the last hours of this campaign, Romney and Ryan have become truly desperate. Romney will say anything to win.”

But Republicans returned to the issue of employment, arguing Friday that the employment situation had scarcely improved over the last four years, and hardly matched the White House’s projections upon selling its stimulus package in January of 2009. That, they said, justified Obama’s expulsion from office.

“In the president’s campaign for another term, he has offered nothing different and if he is re-elected, nothing different is exactly what we would get,” Ryan said at a rally in Colorado. “And we are not going to let him get away with that are we?”

Is it possible we see a status-quo election?... Final jobs report before election is mostly good news for Obama: Economy added 171,000 jobs in October and unemployment rate ticks up to 7.9%... How to view Romney’s move into Pennsylvania… Don’t compare this election’s data with 2008; compare it with 2004… Trying to predict the turnout, as well as Sandy’s impact… Obama campaigns in Ohio, while Romney will be in Wisconsin and the Buckeye State… Public poll suggests Mourdock is headed for defeat… And “Meet” has David Plouffe and Eric Cantor.

*** A status-quo election? Despite the billions of dollars spent, the endless campaigning, and the breathless reporting, it is POSSIBLE we could end up with a status-quo result on Election Day -- with President Obama winning re-election, Democrats keeping control of the Senate, and Republicans staying in power in the House. Now we’re not saying these things will happen, but with four days to go, you’d probably rather be Obama than Mitt Romney, Senate Democrats instead of Senate Republicans, and House Republicans rather than House Democrats. But if that’s the result on Tuesday, we’d have a status-quo result after three previous change elections (in 2006, 2008, and 2010). And it would be an ironic outcome, given the majorities who believe the country is headed on the wrong track and given Congress’ very low approval rating. Then the challenge would be to govern – with better results than we saw in 2011 and 2012. Of course, it’s possible we see a fourth-straight change election. But it’s also very possible things stay the same.

 
*** Economy adds 171,000 jobs in October, unemployment rate at 7.9%: When it comes to the last jobs report before the election, it’s good news for Team Obama. In October, the U.S. economy added 171,000 jobs and the unemployment ticked up to 7.9% -- but remains below 8%. The AP: "The Labor Department's last look at hiring before Tuesday's election sketched a picture of a job market that is gradually gaining momentum after nearly stalling in the spring. Since July, the economy has created an average of 173,000 jobs a month, up from 67,000 a month from April through June. Still, President Barack Obama will face voters with the highest unemployment rate of any incumbent since Franklin Roosevelt. The rate ticked up because more people without jobs started looking for work. The government only counts people as unemployed if they are actively searching.”

*** How to view Romney’s move into Pennsylvania: There are two ways to interpret Mitt Romney’s decision to campaign in Pennsylvania on Sunday. Either it’s a move to run up the score (trying to get to 300 electoral votes) and project more momentum, or it’s an effort to search for another path to 270 electoral votes. Ask yourself what is the more likely option, and it’s hard to ignore the latter. Consider: Most public polls continue to show Obama leading slightly in Ohio, and Romney hasn’t made a serious campaign effort in Keystone State since the primaries. Indeed, it’s difficult not to compare this move to an on-side kick in football -- when you’re behind by a touchdown with a few ticks on the clock left.

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

*** Don’t compare this election’s data with 2008; compare it with 2004: Bracing for a very close election on Tuesday night, we’re sure that everyone is studying past exit polls, county vote totals in the swing states, the early vote, and previous victory margins. But perhaps the best way to compare Tuesday’s contest isn’t with the figures from 2008, when Barack Obama decisively beat John McCain in 2008, 53%-46%. Instead, it’s comparing this election with 2004, when George W. Bush narrowly beat John Kerry, 51%-48%. How Obama is performing vs. Kerry and how Romney is performing vs. Bush might be the best way to understand how Election Night is breaking, especially when it comes to Ohio.

*** Patchwork Nation: One way additional way to compare this election with 2004 and 2008 is through Patchwork Nation, the work by journalist Dante Chinni putting all the nation’s counties -- including those in battleground states -- into 12 different county categories. Some examples: Industrial Metropolis (think Philadelphia), College and Careers (Johnson County, IA), Monied Burbs (Fairfax County, VA), Empty Nests (Lake, FL), Immigration Nation (Maricopa, AZ), Boom Towns (Clark, NV), and Evangelical Epicenters (Christian, MO). What is interesting here: When you take the merged likely-voter respondents from our national NBC/WSJ poll from these different county types, you see that Obama is underperforming from 2008 but overperforming from 2004. For instance, in the Monied Burbs -- which makes up 23% of the country’s population -- Obama is leading Romney by seven points among likely-voter respondents in the NBC/WSJ poll, 51%-44%. That’s lower than Obama’s 12-point lead over McCain in ’08. But it’s greater than Kerry’s two-point edge in ’04, 50%-48%. Bottom line: If Obama is overperforming Kerry from ’04, he’s likely to win. Ditto if Romney is overperforming Bush.

*** Trying to predict the turnout: What will the turnout be on Election Day? The Republican half of our NBC/WSJ polling team has researched the topic, predicting that the number of votes will EXCEED those cast in 2008 -- which was just more than 130 million. But they also believe that the percent of citizens of voting age who will participate will DROP from 2008 (62.9%) and 2004 (63.1%) due in large part to less voter enthusiasm than in those past elections. So how could the number of votes increase but the participation percentage drop? The answer is simple: The U.S. population has grown from 2008 (when there were 210 million Americans of voting age) to 2012 (when there are almost 220 million).

Larry Downing / REUTERS

President Barack Obama addresses the crowd at a campaign event at the University of Colorado Boulder, Nov. 1, 2012.

*** And Sandy’s impact on turnout: Here’s another question: What will Sandy’s impact on turnout be? The AP has this quote from turnout expert Michael McDonald: “It’s unlikely disruptions from Sandy would affect the outcome of the election within those states. But if those voters, who are mostly Democrats, end up being subtracted from the national popular vote, you'll get a lower vote share for Obama than he would have received if those people had voted.” And crunching the numbers – if you assume 2008 totals and a 15% reduction in turnout in the coastal counties in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, Obama might end up losing a net 340,000 votes.  Our math:

New York: GRAND TOTAL: Obama -247,000
New York – Obama -86,000, Romney -14,000, Net: Obama -72,000
Queens – Obama -72,000, Romney -23,000, Net: Obama -49,000
Kings – Obama -91,000, Romney -23,000, Net: Obama -68,000
Bronx – Obama -51,000, Romney -6,000, Net: Obama -45,000
Richmond – Obama -12,000, Romney -13,000, Net: Romney -1,000
Nassau – Obama -51,000, Romney -43,000, Net: Obama -8,000
Suffolk – Obama -52,000, Romney -46,000, Net: Obama -6,000

New Jersey: GRAND TOTAL: Obama -60,000
Bergen – Obama -34,000, Romney -28,000, Net: Obama -6,000
Hudson – Obama -23,000, Romney -8,000, Net: Obama -15,000
Union – Obama -21,000, Romney -12,000, Net: Obama -9,000
Essex – Obama -36,000, Romney -11,000, Net: Obama -25,000
Middlesex – Obama -29,000, Romney -19,000, Net: Obama -10,000
Monmouth –Obama -22,000, Romney -24,000, Net: Romney -2,000
Ocean – Obama -16,500, Romney, -24,000, Net: Romney -7,500
Atlantic – Obama -10,200, Romney -7,500, Net: Obama -2,700
Cape May – Obama -3,500, Romney -4,000, Net: Romney -500

Connecticut: GRAND TOTAL: Obama -29,000
Fairfield – Obama -36,000, Romney -25,000, Net: Obama -9,000
New Haven – Obama -35,000, Romney -22,000, Net: Obama -13,000
Middlesex – Obama -8,000, Romney -5,000, Net: Obama -3,000
New London – Obama -11,000, Romney -7,000, Net: Obama -4,000

Rhode Island: GRAND TOTAL: Obama -3,600
Washington – Obama -6,000, Romney -4,000, Net: Obama -2,000
Newport – Obama -4,000, Romney -2,400, Net: Obama -1,600

*** On the trail: Obama spends his day in Ohio, hitting Hilliard at 10:20 am ET, Springfield at 12:55 pm ET, and Lima at 3:20 pm ET… Romney campaigns in West Allis, WI at 10:55 am ET and in West Chester, OH (with Ann Romney and Paul Ryan) at 7:30 pm ET… Biden stumps in Wisconsin, while Ryan is in Iowa… Bill Clinton visits Florida, and Michelle Obama hits Virginia.

*** Is Richard Mourdock headed for defeat? According to a new poll, it appears that way in Indiana’s Senate contest. “Democratic Senate nominee U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly has built a significant lead in the race for Senate, according to a new Howey/DePauw University Battleground Poll. The poll, released this morning, shows Donnelly leading Republican State Treasurer Richard Mourdock 47 percent to 36 percent, with Libertarian Andrew Horning getting 6 percent.” Now Republicans have released their own poll showing Mourdock at 46% and Donnelly at 44%

*** On “Meet”: This Sunday, NBC’s David Gregory interviews White House senior adviser David Plouffe and House Majority Leader Cantor.

Countdown to Election Day: 4 days

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Updated 2:12 p.m. - President Barack Obama's campaign launched a pair of ads in Michigan defending the 2009 auto bailout, ostensibly in response to a pro-Romney super PAC airing ads in the Wolverine State.

The president's campaign released an upbeat spot, "What He Said," touting the bailout of GM and Chrysler, and "Cynical," an ad meant to combat the misleading spots run by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney that stoked fears that Jeep would move some of its production to China, at the expense of U.S. jobs.

The Obama campaign has bought airtime in Ohio specifically to run these states in the Buckeye State, along with Michigan. But don't be so quick to assume that putting these ads on Detroit television is all about putting Michigan in play.

As with Detroit's newspapers, several of the Motor City's networks bleed into northwest Ohio and television packages in Toledo. That's prime battleground turf in Ohio -- and, it's the home of a major Jeep production plant, a central part of the recent squabbling on autos.

The Romney campaign said in response: "President Obama can’t run from the facts. As a result of his handling of the auto bailout, American taxpayers stand to lose $25 billion and GM and Chrysler are expanding their production overseas. Unlike President Obama, Mitt Romney has a comprehensive plan to revive manufacturing, create millions of good-paying jobs, and deliver real change and a real recovery."

The pre-election battle for perceived momentum extended Wednesday into a public dispute over whether President Barack Obama or Republican nominee Mitt Romney could claim an advantage with prized independent voters.

As a new series of battleground state polls emerged this morning -- showing Romney leading Obama among likely voters who identify as independents by 5 points in Florida, 6 points in Ohio and a whopping 21 points in Virginia -- Republicans argued the president's political arithmetic wasn't as sound as the Obama team contends.

Republicans on Wednesday morning circulated emails pointing out Obama's disadvantage among independents to call into question Obama's strength in several battleground states.

"We think that across the battleground state, we have a lead among independent voters," Obama senior adviser David Axelrod said on a conference call Wednesday with reporters in response. But, he added: "That's not true across every battleground state."

The Obama strategist did say, though, that the campaign believes the president is winning enough of the share of the independent vote to emerge victorious on Nov. 6.

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

What follows is a look at the breakdown of the independent vote in 2004 and 2008 exit polls in arguably the three biggest battleground states, along with the share of the electorate made up by self-described independent voters. Sometimes the winner of these state won the independent and sometimes they didn’t.

OHIO

2004 (independents were 25 percent of the electorate)

Kerry 59, Bush 40

2008 (30 percent of electorate)

Obama 52, McCain 44

2012

Quinnipiac/CBS/NYT (independents 30 percent of sample, conducted 10/23-28)

• Romney 49, Obama 43

CNN/ORC (33 percent of sample, conducted 10/23-25)

• Obama 49, Romney 44)

FLORIDA

2004 (23 percent of electorate)

Kerry 57, Bush 41

2008 (29 percent of electorate)

Obama 52, McCain 45

2012

Quinnipiac/CBS/NYT (29 percent of sample, conducted 10/23-28)

• Romney 49, Obama 44

CNN/ORC (35 percent of sample, conducted 10/25-28)

• Obama 49, Romney 44

VIRGINIA

2004 (26 percent of electorate)

Bush 54, Kerry 44

2008 (27 percent of electorate)

Obama 49, McCain 48

2012

Quinnipiac/CBS/NYT (35 percent of sample, conducted 10/23-28)

• Romney 57, Obama 36

Washington Post (35 percent of sample, conducted 10/22-26)

• Romney 53, Obama 45

COLUMBUS, OH – Just two years onto the job, Ohio’s junior senator, Rob Portman, might just be the key to Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s hopes of winning the Buckeye State for next week, and the freshman senator is under tremendous pressure to deliver.

A former frontrunner to round out Romney’s ticket, Portman has become one of the most prominent and effective surrogates for the GOP candidate, having also assumed a larger role in the Romney campaign by way of playing President Barack Obama in practice debate sessions.

More than that, Portman has been intimately involved in building the kind of organization upon which Romney will need to lean if he has hopes of winning Ohio, without which the former Massachusetts governor’s path to 270 electoral votes would become dicier.

***

It was a Saturday afternoon in late July when Portman stood in front of a small group of reporters to participate in a routine he had become quite familiar with: deflect differently-worded questions about his chances of becoming the Republican vice presidential nominee.

Moments before, he had been praising volunteers at Romney's Ohio headquarters for reaching their 1 millionth voter. Portman, who chairs Romney's efforts in the state, told the room full of supporters that grassroots campaigning would make the difference in this election and that Ohio would likely determine the next president. That's why, when he stepped in front of cameras, the questions were all about the pressure he would feel to secure Ohio – which twice went for George W. Bush, but voted for Obama in 2008 – back toward Republicans.

"I already feel the pressure," he finally confided in a moment of candor before diving into a boiler plate answer about the enthusiasm he's seeing in the state.

Al Behrman / AP

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney shakes hands with Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, after Portman introduced Romney at a campaign stop at Jet Machine, Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012, in Cincinnati.

Portman was the subject of so much “veepstakes” speculation precisely because of the possibility that he could help deliver his home state for the Republican ticket.

Even though Romney tapped Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan instead, Portman said his burden is no less heavy. When asked how much pressure he feels now with polls showing a dead heat just days before the election, Portman simply said, “A lot.”

The freshman senator is deeply involved in Romney’s Ohio operation, a commitment that extends far beyond his public appearances at rallies with the former Massachusetts governor. Portman has an intense interest in grassroots campaigning and checks in with Buckeye State staff multiple times each day with questions about how many door knocks and phone calls have been made.  It will make the difference, he feels, in a close race.

The pressure to deliver Ohio, Portman says, comes not only from the fact that a Republican winning the presidency is almost certainly dependent on winning this state, but also from his concern that a second term for Obama will mean four more years of gridlock in Congress.

If Republicans pull off a victory here, Romney staff will point to Portman as a big reason why.  He’ll become more than the man who helped the GOP nominee win a debate.  He’ll become the man who helped Romney win Ohio – and quite possibly the presidency.

Romney advisers are quick to cite Portman’s thorough knowledge of the state, but Ohio Republicans point to the personal relationships he’s built over the years as invaluable.  Those relationships – with county chairs or part-time volunteers – can motivate supporters to make phone calls and knock doors simply as a favor to their down-to-earth senator.

Portman solidified many of those relationships during his 2010 Senate campaign, and he is leaning on those supporters to do now for Romney what they did for him in 2010. (Many of those relationships were even forged well before 2010, during Portman’s time as a congressman and during his involvement with the Bush campaigns in the state.)

 "We're using our folks…We're telling them, ‘Look, this is important to me,’ and most of them jumped in on the primary and all of them are helping now,” said Portman. “So we've kept our network up from our campaign two years ago and we know these people are reliable, we know they're really effective campaigners.”

Bob Paduchik, who ran Portman’s campaign two years ago, said much of the senator’s electoral success can be attributed to his understanding of the importance of retail politics. While Portman remains largely unknown as a national political figure, many of those who are running call centers are familiar with him on a personal level because of his commitment to the ground game.

Portman’s value extends to campaign surrogacy, too. The Ohio senator is keenly aware of Romney’s vulnerability on the 2009 auto industry bailout in a state where the industry accounts for an estimated one in eight jobs. In recent days, Portman has stepped forward to defend Romney on the topic of the bailout, an issue which has re-emerged in the closing days of the campaign.

"It's the policies that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan want to put in place that are going to be good for the auto industry that are going to make it strong," Portman said at a rally in Avon Lake, Ohio on Monday. "To make sure that it stays in Ohio."

But Portman’s focus on the campaign’s nuts-and-bolts might be his greatest asset, and there are signs that his emphasis is paying dividends. Romney volunteers in Ohio have knocked on more than 2 million doors this election cycle, a number they tout as one of the highest among the swing states.

 "They all know Rob. He's brought them coffee and donuts, he's brought them pizza," said Paduchik. “He’s like the general that gets out among the troops, it really inspires people."

 Just last week Portman did exactly that during four stops to Victory Centers throughout Northeast Ohio.  In Avon Lake, OH, he profusely apologized for not having enough donuts for the larger than expected crowd.

 “I have found in my own campaigns that when you lose sight of the grassroots, you tend to lose,” he said while traveling between stops.

That emphasis on the ground game is also why Portman has been in such constant contact with Romney’s Ohio State Director, Scott Jennings.

“He's like an idea factory of how to get more volunteers into a victory center or how to get an issue in front of the press in a particular county,” said Jennings. “He constantly has strategic thinking that is invaluable.”

Portman’s role has led to an uncommon situation in which not being selected as VP has freed Portman up to help the nominee in other ways that may prove more beneficial.

“No matter what happened, I was going to pour my heart into this,” he said, dismissing the notion.

 Win, lose or draw, the consensus from Romney’s high command is that they it will be a much closer battle because the state’s Republican senator has been standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Romney throughout the campaign.

 “What [Portman] has is a passion for Ohio. It's hard to quantify just how valuable that is to us,” said senior Romney adviser Kevin Madden. “He's more than just a good host through Ohio- he's a fierce advocate for Ohio.”

NBC's Garrett Haake contributed reporting.

ONTARIO, OH — Arizona Sen. John McCain delivered a stinging rebuke of President Barack Obama's handling of the terrorist attack on an American consulate in Libya, saying the commander in chief is either "engaged in a massive cover-up" or is "grossly incompetent."

The 2008 GOP presidential nominee focused his remarks on the Sept. 11, 2012 attack in Libya rather than Hurricane Sandy at an event in battleground Ohio that had been billed as a "storm relief and volunteer appreciation" event.

"This president is either engaged in a massive cover-up deceiving the American people or he is so grossly incompetent that he is not qualified to be the commander in chief of our armed forces. It's either one of them," McCain told Romney volunteers gathered here at a Victory Center.

Though the mention of the attacks has faded from Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's stump speech, it remains a hot button for conservatives who feel the death of four Americans was a result of negligence on the part of the White House. Democrats have condemned the accusations as an attempt by the right to politicize the tragedy, a notion McCain dismissed when speaking to reporters.

"I think it's interesting to note that when there was a success, such as when, thank God, we were able to get bin Laden, the administration poured out every single detail, even details that put American lives in danger," McCain said. He later added: "It is my obligation to the men and women who are serving to get the full story out to these four brave Americans have families. They deserve to know why their sons were sacrificed in the needless fashion."

As McCain motivated volunteers at Romney's Ohio headquarters, the GOP nominee held a relief event to collect supplies for those affected by Hurricane Sandy. Obama cancelled campaign events on Tuesday, and Romney scratched an earlier event in this state, a move McCain called "appropriate."

The 2008 presidential candidate said he believes the storm "froze everything in place while this terrible tragedy fixated the attention of the American people. Now i think they're ready to get back into this campaign."

Also joining McCain was Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who encouraged Ohioans to bring supplies to Victory Centers throughout the state. They are two of many surrogates who will be hitting the Buckeye State between now and Election Day. The focus now is turning out the base and getting as many early votes as possible before Nov. 6.

Asked to compare conservative enthusiasm now to at this point four years ago, McCain said, "I hate to admit it but it's much stronger than in 2008. That's just a fact."

Updated 4 p.m. ET — Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's campaign doubled down on its assertion about auto industry jobs moving to China with a new radio ad in northwest Ohio. 

A Romney for president ad airing on Toledo, Ohio's classic rock station, WXKR, strongly insinuates that President Barack Obama's 2009 bailout of the auto industry has led to jobs shifting from the United States to China. 

The narrator in the ad says: 

Barack Obama says he saved the auto industry. But for who? Ohio or China? Under President Obama, GM cut 15,000 American jobs, but they are planning to double the number of cars built in China which means 15,000 more jobs for China. And now comes word that Chrysler plans to start making Jeeps is starting to build cars in, you guessed it, China. What happened to the promises made to autoworkers in Toledo and throughout Ohio? The same hard-working men and women who were told that Obama’s auto bailout would help them. Mitt Romney grew up in the auto industry. Maybe that’s why the Detroit News endorsed him saying ‘Romney understands the industry and will shield it from regulators who never tire of churning out new layers of mandates. Mitt Romney – he’ll stand up for the auto industry.  In Ohio, not China.

The radio spot follows a TV controversial ad playing to fears that Chrysler had plans to move production of Jeeps from the U.S. to China. Romney and other Republicans had previously given voice to errant reports suggesting such a shift, though those original reports referred only to capacity for production of vehicles in China for sale in China. 

The TV ad drew extensive coverage in the media for its suggestion that Jeep was moving jobs to China at the expense of positions in the United States. Toledo, a prime swing territory in the battleground state of Ohio, is home to a major Jeep production facility. 

The radio spot goes a step further in stoking fears that U.S. production of Jeeps would be moved offshore to China. 

As First Read wrote on Monday, this series of ads — running during the closing days of the campaign — mark an effort by Romney to re-frame his opposition to the auto industry bailout and defend himself from Obama's attacks on the issue.

Emmanuel Dunand / AFP - Getty Images

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney talks to supporters calling for donations during a storm relief campaign event to help people who suffered from hurricane Sandy, in Kettering, Ohio, on Oct. 30, 2012.

KETTERING, OH — Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney collected donated supplies for hurricane victims on the East Coast on Tuesday, while urging supporters to give money to the Red Cross at a hastily arranged "relief event" in Ohio.

"Thank you for your help and your generosity," Romney told supporters, as he stood on a table surrounded by donated goods, at the location of a planned campaign rally this morning. "If you have a little extra, if you have more canned goods, bring them along to our victory centers that are open.  But also if you can write a check to American Red Cross that's welcome as well.  We're looking for all the help we can get for all the families in need."

Romney had been scheduled to hold a full-fledged campaign rally in this same building until late yesterday, when the campaign said it was scrapping Romney's political calendar as Hurricane Sandy approached the East Coast. Monday night, the campaign announced this morning's event was back on, but the focus would be storm relief — with Romney making no formal remarks, and no political agenda attached.

Attendees were asked by the campaign to bring donations of non-perishable goods, which are to be trucked to a Red Cross office in Sewell, NJ — or to give to the red cross directly.

Romney's remarks were indeed without a political focus, with no direct mention of the election now just one week away, or of President Barack Obama or any specific campaign issue. After speaking and packing boxes, Romney and Ohio Sen. Rob Portman helped load the donated supplies into a truck for shipment, ignoring questions about whether he planned to tour storm damaged areas, and on his views of the future of FEMA.

Despite effort to the contrary, no political event can be entirely apolitical in late October of an election year, and some trappings of a rally remained here. Romney's long biographical video played once, well before Romney arrived at the venue, and outside the arena vendors sold buttons and hats to attendees as they left. 

Mandy Hess, an administrative assistant at a medical office in Kettering who attended the event with her teenage son, said she wasn't bothered by the hint of politics mixed in with the relief effort.

"It's letting you know who he is as a person and what his roots are, and that people and family are what's important to him so I think that ties into the relief effort," Hess said. 

The GOP nominee himself kept his focus on the storm victims, and tried to strike an uplifting tone, telling supporters that their effort, however small in the grand scheme of things, would matter.

"I know that one of the things I've learned in life is you make the difference you can," Romney said.  "And you can't always solve all the problems yourself, but you can make the difference in the life of one or two people as a result of one or two people making an effort." 

The campaign resumes in full force Wednesday, with Romney planning three rallies in Florida, while his vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan hits the trail in Wisconsin. 

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Pushing back hard at a new ad by political opponents, Vice President Joe Biden and former President Bill Clinton accused the Mitt Romney campaign Monday of saying "absolutely anything to win" and engaging in an attack on President Obama's auto industry record that is "the biggest load of bull in the world."

Related: Jeep ad caps Romney effort to recast opposition to auto bailout

The tough rhetoric comes after the Romney campaign launched an ad in Ohio claiming that ""Obama took GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy and sold Chrysler to Italians, who are going to build Jeeps in China."

Speaking to over 4,000 supporters in Youngstown, Clinton flatly decried that as "bull."

"It turns out, Jeep is reopening in China because they've made so much money here, they can afford to do it and they are going on with their plans here," he said. "They put out a statement today saying it was the biggest load of bull in the world that they would ever consider shutting down their American operations. They are roaring in America, thanks to people like the people of Ohio."

Biden, whose stump speech was even more littered with folksy appeals than usual as he shared the stage with Clinton, accused Romney of "pirouettes more than a ballerina" on his auto industry stances and called the ad "an absolutely patently false assertion."

"Ladies and gentlemen, have they no shame!?" he added. "I mean, what? Romney will say anything, absolutely anything to win, it seems."

Obama's record on the auto industry bailout is largely credited for buoying his poll numbers in swing state Ohio, a firewall Romney is eager to burn through.

Biden on Monday also accused Romney of proposing to "liquidate" the auto industry, a claim that the GOP nominee vigorously contests.

“Today, Vice President Biden falsely claimed that Mitt Romney wanted to ‘liquidate’ the auto industry, and was dishonest about the administration’s own record," said Romney spokesman Ryan Williams. "Mitt Romney’s support for loan guarantees and warranties for the U.S. auto industry is clear. The Obama campaign is less concerned with engaging in a meaningful conversation about his failed policies and more concerned with arguing against facts about their record they dislike."