Mitt Romney barnstorming Ohio as part of campaign comeback

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio — President Barack Obama conceded Wednesday he did poorly in a debate last week that fueled a comeback by his rival in the race for the White House. Mitt Romney barnstormed battleground Ohio and pledged "I'm not going to raise taxes on anyone" in a new commercial.

A perennial campaign issue flared unexpectedly as Romney reaffirmed he is running as a "pro-life candidate and I'll be a pro-life president." He spoke one day after saying in an interview he was not aware of any abortion-related legislation that would become part of his agenda if he wins the White House.

Romney and Obama maneuvered in a race with 27 days to run as Vice President Joe Biden and Republican running mate Paul Ryan looked ahead to their only debate, set for Thursday night in Danville, Ky.

Whatever the impact of the Biden-Ryan encounter, last week's presidential debate boosted Romney in the polls nationally and in Ohio and other battleground states, to the point that Obama was still struggling to explain a performance even his aides and supporters say was subpar.

"Gov. Romney had a good night. I had a bad night. It's not the first time I've had a bad night," Obama said in an ABC interview.

Asked if it was possible he had handed the election to Romney, the president replied: "No."

"What's important is the fundamentals of what this race is about haven't changed," he said. "You know, Gov. Romney went to a lot of trouble to try to hide what his positions are," he said, referring to abortion as an example.

Despite the presidential display of confidence, public opinion polls suggested the impact of last week's debate was to wipe out most, if not all, of the gains Obama made following both parties' national conventions and the emergence in late summer of a videotape in which Romney spoke dismissively of 47 percent of Americans whom he said pay no income taxes. They feel as if they are victims, he said, adding they don't take personal responsibilities for their lives.

Eager to capitalize on his newfound momentum, Romney told a factory audience in Ohio during the day: "My whole passion is about helping the American people who are struggling right now ... The president says he's for the middle class. How have they done under his presidency? Not so well."

The Republican challenger's new television commercial was an appeal to voters' pocketbooks — and also a rebuttal to Obama's claim that Romney had a plan to cut taxes by $5 trillion on the wealthy that would mean higher taxes for the middle class.

"The president would prefer raising taxes," Romney is shown saying in an exchange from last week's debate. "I'm not going to raise taxes on anyone. ... My priority is putting people back to work in America."

Unemployment and the economy have been the dominant issues in the race for the presidency, and while Romney gained from the debate, last week's drop in the jobless rate to 7.8 percent gave Obama a new talking point for the Democratic claim that his policies are helping the country recover, however slowly, from the worst recession in decades.

Romney also sought to lay any abortion-related controversy to rest as he campaigned across Ohio, a battleground with 18 electoral votes and one of the places where he has gained ground since last week's debate.

"I think I've said time and again that I'm a pro-life candidate and I'll be a pro-life president," he said, renewing his promise to cut off federal aid for Planned Parenthood and implement a ban on the use of foreign aid for abortions overseas.

But by the time he spoke, Obama's aides had already jumped on comments from an interview with The Des Moines Register in which Romney said "there's no legislation with regards to abortion that I'm familiar with that would become part of my agenda."