Obama, Romney resume campaign after Sandy

WASHINGTON - With superstorm Sandy dissipating, US President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney are on Thursday back on the campaign trail, trying to make up for the lost time as they dash towards the finish line.

At a campaign rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Obama said the US economy is turning around under his leadership, but Romney is advocating "top down" economics that preceded the downturn.

US President Barack Obama walks to the podium at a campaign event at Austin Straubel Airport International Airport in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Nov 1, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

The president continued to tout his own record, citing the health care law, new financial regulations, education and research programs, and efforts to reduce federal debt by raising taxes on the wealthy as well as budget cuts.

He derided Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, for advocating for change, a slogan made famous by Obama in 2008.

"We know what change looks like," Obama said. "What the governor's offering sure ain't change."

Obama, who canceled campaign events for the first half of the week, is holding three events Thursday, besides Wisconsin, he is also visiting Las Vegas, Nevada, and Denver, Colorado, trying to solidify his razor-thin lead in those swing states.

Romney, on the other hand, is playing defense in Virginia, where latest polls have shown his momentum has stalled. He is holding three events in Roanoke, Doswell and Virginia Beach, all in the Republican leaning southern part of the state.

During his speech delivered in Roanoke, Romney wasted little time before he ended the informal political truce with Obama when Sandy hit, and resumed attacks on the president's record.

"Do you want four more years like the last four years? Do you want four more years where 23 million Americans are struggling to have a good job? Do you want four more years where earnings are going down every year? Do you want four more years of trillion- dollar deficits in Washington?" asked Romney. "There's no question in my view that we really can't have four more years like the last four years."

Noting the Obama campaign has been playing game with his last name, Romney suggested that Chicago should change their slogan of "forward" to "forewarned."

"I know the Obama folks are chanting four more years, four more years, but our chant is this -- five more days, five more days," said Romney.

The two candidates are making closing arguments before Americans head to polling stations across the country next Tuesday, and at the same time trying to make up for the lost time when Sandy hit, cramming over a dozen events into the last several days.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney speaks at a campaign rally in Doswell, Virginia, Nov 1, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]