Ari Shapiro

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ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: I'm Ari Shapiro, traveling with the Romney campaign. After a few days of muted criticism of the president, Mitt Romney let loose in Virginia today.

MITT ROMNEY: We really can't have four more years like the last four years. I know the Obama folks are chanting four more years, four more years. But our chant is this, five more days. Five more days is our chant.

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Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney campaigned in Florida on Wednesday, the resumption of a crowded campaign schedule thwarted by superstorm Sandy.

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And I'm Audie Cornish.

Mitt Romney did not officially campaign today out of respect for those recovering from Sandy or still enduring the giant storm, but he did appear in a crucial swing state before thousands of cheering supporters.

NPR's Ari Shapiro reports on Romney's balancing act one week before the election.

Looking at this year's Republican primary field, Sigmund Freud might have divided the candidates into superego and id.

The id is all about passion and zeal — and that defined most of Romney's challengers: Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, businessman Herman Cain, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich all made pulses race.

The superego is more measured.

This much smaller column consisted briefly of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, and more notably, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

After a week full of campaigning across several battleground states, Mitt Romney delivered an economic policy address in Ames, Iowa, on Friday.

Republican nominee Mitt Romney campaigned in Nevada on Wednesday.

Republican nominee Mitt Romney campaigned Tuesday in Nevada and Colorado.

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AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Governor Romney went straight to Nevada this morning and is now in Henderson for a campaign event. NPR's Ari Shapiro is there and joins us now. Hi there, Ari.

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Hi, Audie.

CORNISH: So, what does Mitt Romney have to say out there on the campaign today?

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Tonight the presidential candidates meet for the final debate of this presidential election. President Obama and Republican Mitt Romney will be in Boca Raton, Florida. The event will focus on foreign policy, which was never expected to rival the economy as a major issue in this campaign. But foreign policy has played a bigger role than anticipated in recent weeks.

For all the attention paid to women in this race, there's another gender gap — with white men.

The Republican ticket of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan campaigned in northeastern Florida on Friday, where thousands of men had descended on Daytona Beach for the annual motorcycle festival Biketoberfest.

A bunch of them were at Willie's Tropical Tattoo smoking cigarettes, drinking beer and listening to music.

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After their lively town hall debate on Long Island Tuesday night, President Obama and his Republican rival Mitt Romney jetted off in different directions yesterday to rally the faithful and woo the undecided in some key battleground states.

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Now, to NPR's Ari Shapiro, who's travelling with Mitt Romney. The Republican flew this morning to Chesapeake, Virginia, for a rally. And Ari, what did he have to say about last night's debate?

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Well, he came out sounding chipper and he relived the moments of the debate that he was proudest of. This was right near the start of his stump speech today.

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For Mitt Romney, this moment is a peak in a campaign that has had more than its fair share of valleys. During the Republican primary campaign, Romney suffered a number of close calls as the nomination and the presidency seemed about to slip through his fingers. The most recent of those close calls came just two weeks ago in Denver when Romney lagged far behind President Obama going into that first debate.

One day after the only vice presidential debate, Rep. Paul Ryan and Vice President Joe Biden took to the campaign trail. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports.

One day after Congressman Paul Ryan debated Vice President Joe Biden, Mitt Romney took to the campaign trail in Virginia and Ohio.

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This week in Iowa, the Des Moines Register asked Mitt Romney about abortion. Romney replied: There's no legislation with regards to abortion that I'm familiar with that would become part of my agenda.

Democrats immediately noted that during the Republican primary campaign Romney actually wrote an article headlined, "My Pro-Life Pledge" that promised specific legislation. Much of his political base is pro-life and his campaign quickly clarified that Romney remains proudly pro-life and would support pro-life legislation.

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney campaigned in Iowa and Ohio Tuesday, as a wave of new polls suggested Romney's strong debate performance last week paid off. Swing states that recently seemed far out of his reach now look like a virtual tie in polls, or even leaning in the Republican's direction.

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Just about every poll since last week's presidential debate shows that Mitt Romney has made the race very close. A Pew survey showed Romney tied with President Obama among registered voters, and leading by four points among likely voters.

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From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel. Later this month, President Obama and Mitt Romney will meet for a debate focused exclusively on foreign policy, but the Republican is not waiting until then to confront the issue. Today, in a speech at the Virginia Military Institute, Romney attacked the Obama administration's policies, especially in the Middle East.

MITT ROMNEY: It's clear that the risk of conflict in the region is higher now than when the president took office.

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And Mitt Romney a little more than a day to savor his presidential debate win before the September unemployment figures forced him to recalibrate. High unemployment has been Mitt Romney's number one argument for why voters should replace President Obama. Now, the jobless rate is still high, but it is below the important psychological threshold of 8 percent. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports on how the Republican presidential nominee reacted to the news.

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ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: I'm Ari Shapiro, traveling with the Romney campaign. The Republican presidential nominee had been chugging along on momentum from Wednesday's debate performance when this morning's unemployment numbers changed the story. At a rally near Virginia's border with Tennessee, that did not faze voters like Nancy Lemieux(ph). She says the statistics are bogus.

NANCY LEMIEUX: Because they twist the numbers to suit the politicians and right now, it's Obama's cronies. So I don't believe anything I hear on TV.

The day after the first presidential debate, GOP challenger Mitt Romney rallied thousands of supporters in rural Virginia. Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan was there too, cheering on his running mate following Wednesday's strong debate performance in Denver.

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And you can listen to tonight's debate live on many NPR stations. We'll also have analysis and fact checking at NPR.org. Now, our next story looks not at the differences between the candidates, which we're sure to hear about tonight, but at a similarity. President Obama and Mitt Romney share something that goes to the core of this campaign. As NPR's Ari Shapiro reports, it comes up in every stump speech they give.

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Let's follow-up now on a story that prompted some debate among our listeners when it first aired. Here's NPR's Ari Shapiro, who stumbled upon this post-script.

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: When Mitt Romney spoke to the American Legion Conference in Indianapolis last month, thousands of people from across the country were in the audience. I happened to speak with Bobbie Lussier of Virginia, who said this about President Obama...

During the Republican National Convention last month, I traveled with Mitt Romney's campaign from Tampa, Fla., to the American Legion conference in Indianapolis.

Romney delivered a speech about foreign affairs and national security. Among the thousands of attendees from around the country, I interviewed one woman from Virginia whose quote sparked a conversation among NPR's audience and staff.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney campaigned with veterans in Northern Virginia on Thursday. And like President Obama, he was in territory that voted for the opposite party four years ago.

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It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

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And I'm David Greene. Renee Montagne is talking with voters in Colorado this morning for our series First and Main.

It is hard to believe but we are finally nearing the end of a presidential campaign that in many ways started back in January 2009.

INSKEEP: Iowa begins early voting today. Other states begin soon, and the presidential candidates are preparing for a final expensive and possibly brutal final act.

Second of a two-part series