With only 27 days remaining before the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 6, the momentum that Republican candidate Mitt Romney seized with his strong performance in last week's first debate is now evident in the polls. While a number of polls in recent days already showed Romney with a national lead over President Barack Obama, a Rasmussen poll released on Tuesday revealed that Romney now also leads Obama in some critical swing states that are likely to determine the election. In a poll conducted in 11 swing states, Romney held a two-point, 49 percent to 47%, advantage over Obama. The states included in the poll were Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. Obama won in all of these states in 2008. Obama had led Rasmussen's swing state poll for 17 of the previous 19 days. On two days, the candidates were tied. Tuesday's Rasmussen poll showed 46% of voters in the above-mentioned swing states said they were certain they would vote for Romney and would not change their minds, while 40% said the same about Obama. Rasmussen's national poll shows the two candidates tied at 48%. A Reuters poll of likely voters has Romney and Obama tied at 45%. In a Gallup poll of likely voters, Romney holds a two-point, 49% to 47% lead over Obama. A Real Clear Politics average of national polls has Romney at 48% and Obama at 47.3%. All of these poll results are within the margin of error. Against the backdrop of these close poll numbers, the candidates for vice president, Paul Ryan and Joe Biden, will debate in Kentucky on Thursday night. On Oct. 16, Romney and Obama will meet again for their second debate at Hofstra University in New York. Meanwhile, the Politico website on Tuesday provided a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the Romney campaign. According to the report, Romney's family, led by his wife Ann and his eldest son Tagg, grew frustrated in recent months with the political operatives running Romney's campaign. Shortly before the first debate last week, Ann and Tagg reportedly called an emergency meeting where they pushed Romney and his campaign operatives to emphasize a new message that would give Romney a softer and more moderate image. "Let Mitt be Mitt," they said.
