ROANOKE, VA -- Stumping in western Virginia on Thursday, Mitt Romney resumed his full-throated critique of President Barack Obama, mocking the president's proposed new cabinet position to oversee businesses' needs and predicting four more years of a stagnant economy should the incumbent be re-elected.

David Goldman / AP

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney waves as he takes the stage for a campaign event at a window and door factory, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012, in Roanoke, Va.

“He’s got to find something to suggest it’s going to better over the next four years," Romney said of the president in his opening remarks.  "And so he came up with an idea last week, which is he’s going to create the Department of Business. I don’t think adding a new chair in his cabinet will help add millions of jobs on Main Street."

"We don’t need a secretary of business to understand business. We need a president who understands business, and I do,” he concluded.

President Obama suggested consolidating other federal agencies into a "one-stop shop" position of a cabinet-level secretary overseeing business issues in an interview with MSNBC earlier this week.

Romney's attack on the president marks a return to more aggressive tactics, which were shelved for several days during Hurricane Sandy and its immediate aftermath.

Campaigning in Florida on Wednesday, Romney never mentioned the name "Obama," focusing instead on his own plans, and leaving any criticism of the president implicit. Romney continued to urge his supporters to donate to the relief effort this morning, but with the president returning to the campaign trail today, it was clear that the time for holding back had ended. 

"I can also tell you this – if the president were to be re-elected, you’re going to see high levels of unemployment continue and stalled wage growth – if any wage growth at all, just like we’ve seen over the last four years," Romney said. "We know something about the past, we’ve seen what his policies have produced – the only way to get this economy going is the kind of bold change I’ve described."

Democrats were quick to push back on Romney's remarks here, and issued a statement which attempted to draw focus back to the auto bailout, which continues to be a driving issue in the campaign's final days in Ohio, perhaps the most hotly contested battleground state.

“The idea that Mitt Romney would help businesses grow as president doesn’t match his record or his policies. When the American auto industry and a million jobs were on the line, Romney turned his back, which is why he’s trying to rewrite history by telling desperate falsehoods to Ohio voters," Obama campaign spokesperson Lis Smith said in a statement.

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

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will be the first candidate to campaign in hurricane-stricken Virginia with a rally on Thursday in the Richmond area. 

The Virginia Republican Party released an invitation Tuesday morning to a Romney event in Doswell, Va. later this week, the GOP candidate's first trip to the state since preceding Hurricane Sandy.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney walks off of his campaign bus at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport on Oct. 29, 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio.

The afternoon event was promoted by the Virginia GOP as a makeup for the rallies in Virginia the Romney campaign had scheduled for last Sunday. The Republican's campaign canceled those events so as to not distract resources from preparing for the hurricane, and subsequent relief efforts. 

Recommended: Storm aftermath not likely to delay election

Northern Virginia — one of the state's population centers and a firm chunk of battleground territory — was more heavily affected by the storm; power outages and storm damages are thought to be less severe in central and southern Virginia, which includes Richmond and was not as severely struck by the hurricane. Moreover, Romney called Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) on Monday to consult about emergency preparedness.

But the decision to return to Virginia for the first time carries a degree of sensitivity. President Barack Obama was set to resume campaigning later this week, though his schedule doesn't call for any stops in states most acutely affected by Sandy, including the battleground states of Virginia, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. 

But with the election just a week away, it's not clear that Romney could afford to stay out of Virginia much longer. His last visit to the state was on Oct. 17, for a rally in Leesburg.

Updated 12:58 p.m. ET — President Barack Obama urged Americans to heed local officials' warnings about Hurricane Sandy on Monday as his re-election said it would determine the president's campaign schedule on a "day-to-day basis."

The president appeared at the White House and said he was "confident" states and local governments were prepared to weather the megastorm barreling toward the East Coast of the United States, though he cautioned that it could take time to restore transportation and electricity in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Obama said Sandy would be "a slow-moving storm through a wide swath of the country."

"We're confident that the assets are pre-positioned for an effective response in the aftermath of this storm," he added.

The hurricane forced Obama to cut short a trip to Florida and canceled events scheduled for Tuesday. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney followed suit, as he and running mate Paul Ryan canceled most of their events on Monday afternoon and Tuesday.

The storm reshuffled the race for the presidency, just eight days before voters head to the polls. Surrogates for Obama — like former President Bill Clinton — stepped forward in place of the president at campaign events as Obama remained in Washington to handle the storm. In addition to canceling stops in Colorado and Virginia, the White House said Monday that Obama would no longer travel to Wisconsin tomorrow, either. The next campaign events on Obama's schedule are on Wednesday, in Ohio.

Romney canceled an afternoon event in Wisconsin and Ryan would no longer appear in Florida. 

"Governor Romney believes this is a time for the nation and its leaders to come together to focus on those Americans who are in harms way," said Gail Gitcho, Romney's communications director. "We will provide additional details regarding Governor Romney's and Congressman Ryan's schedule when they are available." 

Obama met in the White House situation room in order to be “updated on the latest forecast for Hurricane Sandy and the extensive federal effort underway to support the state and local response to this historic storm," according to press secretary Jay Carney. Multiple cabinet secretaries, many members of the president’s White House staff and the heads of FEMA and the National Hurricane Center will participate in this meeting.

But the president's official duties put his campaign schedule in flux, just as the presidential campaign enters its final phase.

"The president's focus is on the storm and governing the country and making sure our people are safe," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said on a conference call with reporters. He said the president's campaign would take scheduling on a day-by-day basis. 

"We're obviously going to lose a bunch of campaign time, but that's obviously how it has to be, and we'll try to make it up on the back end," added David Axelrod, a senior adviser to the Obama campaign. 

Speaking Monday afternoon at the White House, the president said he wasn't concerned about the potential impact of the storm on voting. 

"I am not worried at this point on the impact on the election," he said. "I'm worried about the impact on families and our first responders."

Clinton took Obama's place at a rally this morning in Wisconsin and was set to join Vice President Joe Biden in Ohio later this afternoon. 

Romney pushed forward with his campaign schedule on Monday, which took him to Ohio early in the day and to Wisconsin later in the day. The Republican's campaign put a hold on its fundraising pitches to voters in states in Hurricane Sandy's path, and urged supporters to remove lawn signs for fear that they might become debris. 

Romney campaign offices also collected donations to the Red Cross, items which its bus was supposed to deliver to storm victims.

"Sandy is another devastating hurricane by all accounts, and a lot of people are going to be facing some real tough times as a result of Sandy's fury. And so if you have the capacity to make a donation to the American Red Cross, you can go online and do that," the former Massachusetts governor told an overflow crowd in Avon Lake, Ohio. "If there are other ways that you can help, please take advantage of them because there will be a lot of people that are going to be looking for help and the people in Ohio have big hearts, so we're expecting you to follow through and help out."

NBC's Shawna Thomas contributed reporting.

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

CELINA, Ohio – As Hurricane Sandy makes its way up the Eastern Seaboard, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s campaign has decided to not only cancel all events in the storm’s path but also stop sending fundraising appeals in several states that will likely be affected.

The Romney campaign will halt fundraising efforts in North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, D.C., New Jersey and Pennsylvania for the duration of the storm, adviser Kevin Madden told reporters following a rally here.

This news comes just a day after Romney himself was forced to cancel stops in the battleground state of Virginia Sunday so that emergency personnel could focus on storm preparations. The Republican presidential nominee headed to Ohio instead, meeting up with his running mate, Paul Ryan, for the conclusion of a two-day bus tour across the Buckeye State.

"Our top concern is safety and security and making sure that people who are in the presumed track of the storm are safe and that we're not taking away from response efforts, that's why we cancelled our events there today," Madden said.

Romney spoke about Hurricane Sandy while in Findlay, Ohio Sunday evening, telling the crowd: "I know that right now some people in the country are a little nervous about a storm about to hit the coast. And our thoughts and prayers are with the people who will find themselves in harm's way."

The campaign announced that Romney's event in Milford, N.H. on Tuesday is now cancelled due to the impending weather.

Ryan also discussed the storm and those in its path at the top of his remarks today.

“Look, first let me start on a slightly different note. Let’s today when we get home put in our prayers the people who are in the east coast in the wake of this big storm that’s coming. Let’s not forget those fellow Americans of ours,” Ryan told a crowd of roughly 2,000 supporters.

Thousands of people have already been ordered to evacuate along the East Coast as Hurricane Sandy begins to make landfall. States of emergency have been declared in nine states and D.C.

Romney-Ryan and Victory offices across Virginia are collecting donations in preparation for storm relief efforts and Madden told reporters the campaign is in constant communication with their regional offices and indicated that the campaign may have to cancel more events, depending on the storm's impact.

“Our folks in headquarters are staying in contact with folks in the states to get the best assessment on the storm and how it’s impacting the states, so we're just continuing to get updated on it,” Madden said.

KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- The approach of Hurricane Sandy along the East Coast forced Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to scrap a planned campaign swing Sunday in Virginia, rerouting the GOP contender to the battleground state of Ohio instead.

"I was looking forward to being in Virginia tomorrow but you know the hurricane is headed up there, and I just spoke with the governor, Governor [Bob]  McDonnell, and the governor and I talked about that. He said, you know, the first responders really need to focus on preparation for the storm, so we’re not going to be able to be in Virginia tomorrow, we’re going to Ohio instead," Romney told some 4000 supporters at a rally here Saturday.

The Romney campaign had planned three stops in major markets on Sunday, with rallies in Sterling, Richmond and Virginia Beach, but after canceling the Virginia Beach rally on Friday, the campaign took what an aide said was a "precautionary measure" in cancelling the other two stops. Romney will join his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan for three stops in Ohio Sunday instead.

In Virginia, Romney-Ryan and Victory offices were accepting donations of bottled water and non-perishable food such as beef jerky, granola bars and peanut butter for distribution to relief centers.  

A Romney aide said the campaign planned to reschedule the Old Dominion swing.

Romney urged his Florida supporters, who know something about major storms, to keep thinking about those in the Sandy's path.

"I hope you'll keep the folks in Virginia and New Jersey and New York and all along the coast in your minds and in your hearts," Romney said. "You know how tough these hurricanes can be and our hearts go out to them."

Vice President Joe Biden also canceled a planned rally on Saturday in Virginia Beach, and President Barack Obama changed his travel plans ahead of the storm, leaving for planned campaign events in Florida on Sunday night instead of Monday morning. The Obama campaign has canceled a rally with Michelle Obama in New Hampshire on Tuesday as well, anticipating the effects of the storm may continue even then.

Traveling with Romney on Saturday, Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said he wasn't concerned about the electoral effect of the storm on Florida or elsewhere, but was focused on people.

"Our first concern is with the people that are in the path of the storm. Obviously, that is the No. 1 concern," Rubiotold reporters on the Romney campaign plane between stops in Florida. "Beyond that, I haven’t had time to think about what impact it's going to have on the campaign. I think that’s like a secondary concern at this point."

BRISTOL, VA – Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan was back in the battleground state of Virginia on Thursday, hammering away at President Barack Obama for lacking a 2nd term agenda.

"Just a couple of days ago he came up with a slick new brochure, you know, with less than two weeks left to say, 'Oh I do actually have an agenda,'" Ryan said.

"It is a slick -- well, comic book -- that was his word,” acknowledging a man in the crowd. "To me, a slick re-packaging of more of the same. And look at what it has gotten us. You see, where we are today is our economy is barely limping along. It is slower than it was last year, last year was slower than the year before."

On Tuesday, President Obama released the "Blueprint for America's Future," which featured proposals for a 2nd term published in millions of glossy pamphlets. The 20-page document came after heavy criticism that Obama hadn't been spending enough time laying out specifics. 

Ryan asked voters here in Bristol to give both he and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney the “moral obligation” to put the Republican agenda in place come Nov. 6.

“The worst thing that could happen, president Obama gets reelected and we have more of the same with a debt crisis. The second worst thing that could happen is we get elected by default without a mandate. This is why we’re asking you to give us the moral authority and the obligation to honor you by putting this agenda in place to get America back on the right track,” Ryan said outside Universal Fibers in Southwest Virginia.

As Ryan returned to Virginia today for two rallies -- the next happening in Charlottesville -- President Barack Obama himself was campaigning just a couple hundred miles away in Richmond during his 48 hour "campaign extravaganza."

Polls are tight in this swing state; the Oct. 11 NBC News-Wall Street Journal-Marist poll showed Romney with a narrow lead over President Obama in the state, 48 percent to 47 percent among likely voters.

Early voting is underway in the state and the GOP VP nominee begged the nearly 1,500 person crowd Thursday to help with voter turnout.

“Virginia, we need your help. Don’t forget, early voting has already started. If you haven’t voted absentee, you can still do it, And go find somebody who thought the hope and change sounded good in 2008 but know it isn’t true now. Get them to vote for us,” he said.

Just before departing for his second event of the day in Charlottesville, Ryan, joined by his wife and three kids, met racecar driver Richard Petty on the tarmac in Blountville, TN and posed for a picture.

“It is a real pleasure to meet you in person,” Ryan said after introducing Petty to his kids as one of the “most famous racecar drivers ever.”

Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

President Barack Obama delivers doughnuts to fire fighters at a fire house in Tampa, Fla., Oct. 25, 2012.

RICHMOND, VA -- President Barack Obama touted the endorsement of former Secretary of State and retired Gen. Colin Powell's endorsement, suggesting it was a nod of support to his record on foreign policy and defense.

Addressing a crowd of 15,000 here at a public park, Obama said, "I was proud to learn that we have Colin Powell's support in this campaign."

"I'm grateful to him for his lifetime of service to his country both as a soldier and a diplomat. And every brave American who wears this uniform of this country should know that as long as I am your Commander in Chief, we will sustain the strongest military this world has ever known.

"We will be relentless in pursuit of our enemies. Those are promises I've kept."

Military spending is a key issue in swing state Virginia, home to several bases as well as many civilian defense employees, who live primarily in Northern Virginia.

"President Obama says that ‘trust matters,’ but Virginians already know that he cannot be trusted to protect our military or our economy. Under President Obama, our military stands to be cut by nearly $1 trillion and he has no plan whatsoever to save the 136,000 Virginia jobs that could be eliminated because of his cuts," said Curt Cashour, Romney's spokesman for Virginia. "To make matters worse, the president’s liberal policies are killing jobs in Virginia as we speak."

After his speech, the president was headed to Chicago where he would become the first sitting president to vote early in person.

Jason Reed / Reuters

President Barack Obama stops mid-stride to greet supporters during a campaign rally at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., Oct. 19, 2012.

President Barack Obama has been hitting GOP nominee Mitt Romney for weeks over what he says is Romney’s shifting to more moderate general-election policies, but now he has a new catchphrase for it: "Romnesia."

Speaking at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., Obama turned the joke into a four-minute soliloquy, laying out what he said were all of Romney’s inconsistent positions.

“He's changing up so much -- backtracking and sidestepping. We've got to name this condition that he's going through. I think ... I think it's called 'Romnesia,'" he said as the crowd of 9,000 erupted into cheers and applause. “Now, I'm not a medical doctor but I do want to go over some of the symptoms with you. Because I want to make sure nobody else catches it.”

Given that the event was geared towards female voters -- signs at the front of the stage read “Women’s Health Security” and even the invocation was centered around women’s issues -- Obama first mentioned what he said were Romney’s evolving statements on workplace fairness and women’s health.

“If you say you're for equal pay for equal work, but you keep refusing to say whether or not you'd sign a bill that protects equal pay for equal work, you might have Romnesia,” he said as the crowd laughed. “If you say women should have access to contraceptive care, but you supported legislation that would let your employers deny you contraceptive care, you might have a case of Romnesia.”

He concluded by joking that his health care plan would be able to cure anyone suffering from what ails Romney.

“And if you come down with a case of Romnesia, and you can't seem to remember the policies that are still on your website or the promises you've made over the six years you've been running for president, here's the good news. 'Obamacare' covers preexisting conditions! We can fix you up! We've got a cure!” he exclaimed as the audience reached a fever pitch.

Before launching into his new attack line, Obama also renewed his criticism over Romney’s economic plan, again calling it a “sketchy deal” and noting that New York Times columnist Paul Krugman called it a “snow job on the American people.”

But most of Obama’s critiques for Romney pertained specifically to women’s issues, which emerged as one of the hottest topics in Tuesday’s presidential debate.

He warned that the next president would potentially have the ability to appoint a new Supreme Court justice, raising the prospect of revisiting the landmark Roe v. Wade decision regarding abortion rights.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Two-year-old Sacha Marzett wears a homemade Obama t-shirt while waiting in line to attend a campaign rally at George Mason University campus October 19, 2012 in Fairfax, Va.

Obama also alluded to Romney’s “binders full of women” comment during the debate.

“When the next president and Congress would tip the balance of the highest court in the land in a way that turns back the clock for women and families for decades to come, you don't want someone who needs to ask for binders of women. You don't want that guy," he said.

Virginia Delegate Barbara Comstock responded to the president’s remarks on behalf of the Romney campaign, saying in a statement: "Women haven’t forgotten how we’ve suffered over the last four years in the Obama economy with higher taxes, higher unemployment, and record levels of poverty. President Obama has failed to put forward a second-term agenda -- and when you don’t have a plan to run on, you stoop to scare tactics."

The president returned to the White House after his remarks, from which he'll depart later on Friday for Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, where he’ll prepare for next Monday’s presidential debate.

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.

CHESAPEAKE, VA -- Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was eager to play up his Tuesday night showdown with President Barack Obama, accusing the president of failing to outline a second term agenda in their debate.

With only one debate with Obama remaining, Romney mockingly said that Obama had better hurry up and develop his plans.

Emmanuel Dunand / AFP - Getty Images

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney holds a campaign rally at The Grove, in Chesapeake, Virginia, October 17.

“Now I have to be honest with ya, I love these debates. You know, these things are great. And I think it’s interesting that the president still doesn’t have an agenda for a second term," Romney said. "Don’t you think that it’s time for him to finally put together a vision of what he’d do in the next four years if he were elected? I mean, he’s gotta come up with that over this weekend because there’s only one debate left, on Monday."

"I just think the American people had expected that the president of the United States would be able to describe what he’s gonna do in the next four years, but he can’t," Romney continued. "He can’t even explain what he’s done in the last four years."

Romney reworked the top of his stump speech today, re-litigating several points from last night's debate -- referencing specific questioners by name.

"Let me mention Philip – Philip was the first question of the night, you may recall, and he asked a question about the gasoline prices, and I pointed out they’ve gone well from roughly $1.86 a gallon when the president was elected to $4 a gallon," Romney said, quickly dismissing President Obama's argument that a rise in gas prices was tied to an improving economy. "I think it’s pretty clear, that when it comes to his policies and his answers and his agenda, he’s pretty much running on fumes."

Romney left unmentioned the issue and moment widely considered to be his weakest of the debate: the 9/11/12 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, and the timeline over which the president declared the attack an act of terror.

The overwhelming enthusiasm for Romney's first debate performance appeared to be muted at the candidate's first event today, with a crowd 3,500 cheering, but less wildly, for Romney's commentary on the debate.

"It was a little chaotic," Jennifer Broussard, a full-time mom from Chesapeake said of last night's showdown in New York.

"He did fair," Broussard said, by way of reviewing Romney's debate performance Tuesday. "He did wonderful in the first debate."

Updated 1:53 p.m. - President Barack Obama is enjoying the help of guest stars in recent TV ads airing in swing states.

The president's re-election campaign released a new ad on Sunday, which aired during some of yesterday's nationally-televised sporting events, featuring actor Morgan Freeman doing voiceover work in a spot about the challenges Obama faced upon taking office.

And on Monday, the Obama campaign released a new ad targeting voters in Ohio, featuring former senator and legendary astronaut John Glenn speaking directly to the camera in support of the president's re-election.

"Growing up in Ohio, you learn to size up a person by their character," Glenn says in the ad. "And that's why I'm supporting President Obama."

The cameos come just 22 days before the election, as the president looks to hold off a potentially resurgent opponent in Mitt Romney, who's making up ground versus Obama after a strong performance in their first debate.

Obama's benefited from celebrity support throughout the campaign, having held a star-studded concert last week in Los Angeles, featuring Katy Perry, Stevie Wonder, Jennifer Hudson, Earth Wind & Fire and Jon Bon Jovi.

Obama is also getting a boost this week from rocker Bruce Springsteen; the boss is campaigning in Cleveland this week alongside another Democratic rock star: former President Bill Clinton.

"This election is a clear choice between two different visions for Ohio and the country. We can have four more years like the last four years, with more policies from President Obama that stifle job growth, hurt energy production, and make it harder for businesses to hire," said Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg. "Or we can choose Mitt Romney, who has a pro-growth vision for the country that will unleash the private sector, utilize our domestic energy resources, and help Ohio – and the rest of the country – experience a real recovery."

Romney has made use of some celebrity support, too. Musician Kid Rock rallied with Paul Ryan last week in Michigan, and, of course, actor Clint Eastwood nearly stole the spotlight from Romney at the Republican National Convention in August with a 15-minute routine with an empty chair meant to represent Obama.

But it's quite another thing to put these celebrities on television in the home stretch of a campaign.

Outside groups are getting in on the celebrity action, too. The liberal group MoveOn.org Political Action released a new ad set to run in Colorado and Virginia featuring actresses Scarlett Johansson, Kerry Washington and Eva Longoria (the last of whom is an official co-chair for the Obama campaign) speaking about reproductive rights.