Ryan says Obama misleading on Libya questions

Romney was headed to Daytona Beach, Fla., for a Friday night rally with Ryan. The GOP nominee made a play for moderate voters in a new ad that featured video of him at the first presidential debate talking about how he would bring the political parties together to help the economy.

While they were focused on southern battlegrounds, NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls released Thursday showed Obama retaining his lead over Romney in Iowa and Wisconsin, two Midwestern battlegrounds. Obama's campaign circulated a memo highlighting the president's strength during the early voting period in Ohio, where Romney has largely staked his hopes of winning the White House.

But both were keeping relatively light public schedules before a weekend devoted to preparing for their third and final presidential debate, set for Monday in Boca Raton, Fla. After the event in Virginia, Obama was heading for the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland to prepare; Romney planned preparations in Delray Beach, Fla.

Meanwhile, Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington against the Commission on Presidential Debates for excluding him from the debates.

Associated Press writer Frederic Frommer contributed to this report.