◼ One sign dominated the landscape when President Obama made a campaign stop here on a warm, sunny Tuesday afternoon in Triangle Park. The sign did not say "Obama-Biden," or "Forward," or some other slogan. It said, in letters that stood nearly six feet tall: VOTE EARLY. - Byron York/Washington Examiner
"Before I begin, I want you all to look at those two words: Vote Early," Obama said, pointing to his left immediately after taking the stage to raucous applause. "Do it now."
That's the essence of the Obama re-election effort less than two weeks from Election Day. Team Obama knows the campaign doesn't have the magic it had in 2008. Crowds are enthusiastic, but not over-the-top enthusiastic. Obama's strategy is to make up the excitement gap by just grinding it out, doing the organizational work of getting the people most likely to support the president -- blacks, Latinos, women, the young -- to vote early. By doing so, he hopes to build up a sufficient bank of votes to prevail over Romney on November 6. It's the no-magic campaign.
◼ Magic gone in Ohio? - Ed Morrissey/HotAir
It’s a razor-close race in Ohio, but if Romney has knocked six points off of Obama’s 2008 gender gap and turned an eight-point deficit among independents into an eight-point advantage in a cycle where Democratic enthusiasm won’t come close to matching 2008, I have to think that the magic has already shifted to Romney.
