Mitt Romney Closing the Gap in Ohio Polls as Romey Crowds are Surging

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is closing the gap in the polls in Ohio as we head into the second of three Presidential debates. As Mitt Romney draws closer, Romney has also seen his crowd get much larger and enthusiastic. The momentum is presently with Romney.

(Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is recovering ground in the critical swing state of Ohio as he rises in the polls and crowd numbers swell after his strong debate performance last week against President Barack Obama.

Despite pundits and pollsters dismissing Romney’s chances in the state in late September, the Republican is now either tied or just barely trailing Obama in Ohio ahead of the next presidential debate on Tuesday night.

At an event with thousands of Ohioans on Friday night, Romney boasted of “a growing crescendo of enthusiasm.” He has spoken to several large audiences in Ohio this week.

“(Obama’s) campaign is about smaller and smaller things, and our campaign is about bigger and bigger crowds fighting for a bright future,” he said on Saturday.

According to the RCP averaging of polling data, Obama is only ahead of Romney by 48% to 46.3%. Of course this is based on counting a  suspect MNBC/WSJ/Marist poll that used a +10D Registered and +11D Likely polling sample to get a results of Obama +6.

YOU LIE … VP Joe Biden During Debate Contradicts State Department on Benghazi Security … Said “We” Didn’t Know of Requests for more Security in Libya .. UM, Really?

Did Joe Biden lie through his pearly, ultra white teeth last night with regards to Benghazi and requests for more security in Libya? Or was  this when Obama had locked Joe away in a closet so that he would not commit any gaffes?

Following the VP debate, even NBC’s Andrea Mitchell caught Biden’s less than honest answer with regards to Beghazi. Biden seemed to throw the Intelligence community under the bus and blamed them for the info they had at hand. Then Biden leveled the whopper of the evening …  “We were not told that they wanted more security”. HUH? Ok America, forget that Biden was smirking and acting like a jerk and a cranky old man, he just lied to America on Benghazi and why there was not more security. As Powerline refers to it … the Libya Dodge.

Take a good look as to what was said just a day earlier during House hearings under oath on Benghazi and who knew what, who asked for what and when. It was a far different story than what Joe Biden spouted off during the debate.

Vice President Joe Biden claimed that the administration wasn’t aware of requests for more security in Libya before the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi during Thursday night’s debate, contradicting two State Department officials and the former head of diplomatic security in Libya.

“We weren’t told they wanted more security. We did not know they wanted more security there,” Biden said.

In fact, two security officials who worked for the State Department in Libya at the time testified Thursday that they repeatedly requested more security and two State Department officials admitted they had denied those requests.

“All of us at post were in sync that we wanted these resources,” the top regional security officer in Libya over the summer, Eric Nordstrom, testified. “In those conversations, I was specifically told [by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Charlene Lamb] ‘You cannot request an SST extension.‘ I determined I was told that because there would be too much political cost. We went ahead and requested it anyway.”

Nordstrom was so critical of the State Department’s reluctance to respond to his calls for more security that he said, “For me, the Taliban is on the inside of the building.”

“We felt great frustration that those requests were ignored or just never met,” testified Lt. Col. Andrew Wood, a Utah National Guardsman who was leading a security team in Libya until August.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) released the unclassified cables containing those requests.

The outcome of this debate is that Biden just gave Benghazi-gate more legs.

The Blame Game: Obama Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter Says Benghazi Is Only an Issue ‘Because of Romney and Ryan’

First it was a tape and now the Obama Administration is blaming Romney and Ryan for Benghazi?

Just when you thought that the Obama Administration could not get any worse … Barack Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter says that the only reason why the Benghazi, Libya consulate attack is an issue is because of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.

UNBELIEVABLE.

The Obama White House is incapable of taking responsibility for anything, including the lack of security and refused requests for a Marine detail in Benghazi. The result, a terrorist attack on the anniversary of 9-11 that say US Ambassador Stevens and three other murdered. Four people are dead and the Obama White House and State Department look like incompetent fools and Cutter wonders why this is a story? If we actually had a non-bias media, this story would be a far bigger scandal than Watergate ever was. The deceit from the Obama WH is beyond comment. First they play the blame game on the economy and now the aftermath of the deaths of four Americans? As aptly stated by the Lonely Conservative, “it is reckless and irresponsible is leaving our diplomats in an unsafe area without security and then lying about it.”

STEPHANIE CUTTER: In terms of the politicization of this — you know, we are here at a debate, and I hope we get to talk about the debate — but the entire reason this has become the political topic it is, is because of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. It’s a big part of their stump speech. And it’s reckless and irresponsible what they’re doing.

BROOKE BALDWIN: But, Stephanie, this is national security. As we witnessed this revolution last year, we covered it–

CUTTER: It is absolutely national security–

BALDWIN: –it is absolutely pertinent. People in the American public absolutely have a right to get answers.

UPDATE I: The Romney campaign responded to Cutter’s remark in a statement Thursday afternoon:

“President Obama’s campaign today said that Libya is only an issue because of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. They’re wrong. The reason it is an issue is because, for the first time since 1979, an American ambassador was assassinated and President Obama’s foreign policy strategy of ‘leading from behind’ is failing. This administration has continually misled the American public about what happened in Benghazi and, rather than be truthful about the sequence of events, has instead skirted responsibility and dodged questions. The American people deserve straight answers about this tragic event and a president who can provide leadership, not excuses.”

In the end, this is what a failed Administration does, blame and deflect from the past four years. The America People deserve answers and the Obama WH just wants to stall and play a four corners offense and hope they win reelection.

Republicans Ad: Biden Laughed at the Issues … “Vice President Biden is laughing … are you?”

NO LAUGHING MATTER …

That didn’t take long, the GOP already has a pretty effective ad up from tonight’s VP Debate depicting Joe Biden laughing and smirking at Paul Ryan throughout the debate. The unprofessional and condescending mannerisms of Biden was simply beneath the office of the VP. All I could think during the debate and Biden’s crazy antics was … and this guy is a heart beat away from the Presidency? Really America, this Biden is a heartbeat away. Frightening!

“Vice President Biden is laughing … are you?”

CNN Post VP Debate Poll … Paul Ryan Wins 48% to 44% over Biden

So who won the Vice Presidential debate … Paul Ryan 48% – Joe Biden 44%.

With no all due respect to CNN, we won’t call it a draw because if Biden had won your post debate poll, neither would you have. A majority of those polled both said that both candidates did better than they expected; however, by a 50%-41% margin, debate watchers say that Ryan rather than Biden better expressed himself. Maybe that is because Biden spent most of the debate attacking Ryan and interrupting him when Biden was not smirking and laughing. This is also why the Obama-Biden plan back-fired and Ryan won the likability vote over Biden 53% to 43%.

Forty-eight percent of voters who watched the vice presidential debate think that Rep. Paul Ryan won the showdown, according to a CNN/ORC International nationwide poll conducted right after Thursday night’s faceoff. Forty-four percent say that Vice President Joe Biden was victorious. The Republican running mate’s four point advantage among a debate audience that was more Republican than the country as a whole is within the survey’s sampling error.