Obama Targets Swing Voters in Hour-Long Economic Address
President Barack Obama gave a big speech in Cleveland in a bid to distinguish himself as a better economic choice for voters this November, as Mitt Romney offers an opposing speech.
.Update (3:38 p.m. EDT): A bit more coverage worth your click: Politico's Reid Epstein has a story on Obama's speech that should give you an idea of the main thrust and the talking points. And the Post's Amy Gardner and Philip Rucker have some comparison between the two dueling addresses.
Update (3:10 p.m. EDT): The speech is over, lasting just less than an hour. Washington Post's The Fix blogger Chris Cillizza tweeted of the address in swing-state Ohio, "I think this is a quite smart speech by Obama. Recognition that 2 party bases are decided. TOTAL play for independents." We'll have more analysis later, and will point out the best recaps and coverage as they come out. For now, if you're interested in learning more about what Romney said, Politico's Juana Summers has a thorough recap of the candidate's "prebuttal" in Cincinnati.
Update (2:30 p.m. EDT): With Obama's speech well underway, he's spent much of the first portion of it describing Romney's economic plans, and promising to end a "stalemate" in Washington. One thing people are chattering about off the bat was CNN's decision to cut away from the speech after 10 minutes, as that's all the time they gave Romney.
Update (2:25 p.m. EDT): The Associated Press has an initial report from Romney's speech preceding Obama's. The candidate said the president was "long on words and short on action."
Original: President Barack Obama is giving a big speech in Cleveland in a bid to distinguish himself as a better economic choice for voters this November. The Washington Post's Amy Gardner, who previewed both Obama's speech and an opposing one from his opponent Mitt Romney, said Obama's 1:45 p.m. address would "sharply cast November’s election as a choice between his economic stewardship and an alternative that would return the country to the policies that caused the downturn." Mitt Romney, meanwhile, gave an opposing speech in Cincinnati shortly before Obama got underway. He's expected to "bracket" the president with opposing addresses.