WHERE THE RACE STANDS – AT 9:53 A.M. ET:  Scott Rasmussen's daily tracker still shows a very close race, with Romney holding a slim lead and key swing states also close:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows Mitt Romney attracting support from 48% of voters nationwide, while President Obama earns the vote from 47%. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate, and three percent (3%) are undecided.

Nearly all of the responses for this survey were taken before last night’s debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Romney’s running mate, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan. Eighteen percent (18%) of Likely U.S. Voters rate the vice presidential debate as Very Important to their vote.

Speaking of debates, Scott Rasmussen notes in his new weekly syndicated column that Polls Reflect Voter Reality, Not Pundit’s Preoccupations. The Political Class, he writes, believes the race for the White House was turned upside down by the president’s weak performance in last week’s debate, but “the reality is that a very close race shifted ever so slightly from narrowly favoring President Obama to narrowly favoring Mitt Romney. Either way, it remains too close to call.”

New polling shows Romney ahead by three points in North Carolina and Obama still up by one in Ohio. Currently, the president has a 237-181 edge in the Electoral College. However, 10 states with 120 Electoral Votes remain in the Toss-Up category and are likely to decide the election.

COMMENT:  We should take cautious encouragement.  North Carolina now seems to be trending our way.  The Obama one-point lead in Ohio can be overcome.  He was up by much more several weeks ago.  Other polls show Florida going for Romney, and Romney moving into a slight lead in Virginia.   

We still have three and a half weeks to go.  The race can tilt either way.  We've made progress, but Romney must still fight as if he's 20 points behind. 

October 12, 2012