Obama, Romney focus on swing states in last minute campaigning

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A photo finish to the White House was predicted by final US poll surveys with rivals Barack Obama and Mitt Romney deadlocked as the gruelling 18 month campaign entered its last moments.

The race for the White House has narrowed to 10 swing states ahead of Tuesday's election for the world's most powerful job, with Obama and Romney engaged in last minute frenetic efforts to break into each others' votebanks.

While the incumbent was leading with the women voters, his Republican challenger was ahead as far as the preference of men was concerned.

Obama's strategy on the final day was to cement his last line of defence in the crucial industrial mid west and attempt to pluck away several insurance states from Romney target list.

Romney, who started as an underdog but grew into a formidable opponent, dashed through Iowa and Ohio, trying to break into the Democrat citadels, telling voters that Obama's record, particularly on the economy, did not warrant a return to the White House.

The prestigious Pew Research Center, in its latest opinion poll, said that Obama has edged Romney in the final days of the presidential campaign by holding a 48 per cent to 45 per cent lead over Romney among likely voters.

With the election just a day away, campaigning will end tonight, bringing down the curtain on several months of high voltage exchange of words between the two candidates, that often turned bitter and nasty.

Continuing their hectic election campaign as in the past few days, both candidates are scheduled to address a series of meetings crisscrossing the battleground states, beginning early in the morning till late in the night.

Obama, 51, and First Lady Michelle, are scheduled to return to their home town of Chicago, which is also their campaign headquarters, post mid-night, after holding meetings in Wisconsin and Ohio. Obama would end his election campaign in Des Moines, Iowa.