Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Billion dollar campaigns race to the finish line

Visual source: Newseum Matt Cantor at Newser:

By the time Election Day rolls around, both President Obama and Mitt Romney will have raised more than $1 billion'making this presidential race the costliest ever seen. [...]

Through September, some 55% of Obama's campaign cash consists of donations smaller than $200, while only 13% of his donations were of the maximum $2,500.

For Romney, 45% of donations were at the $2,500 mark, compared to 22% that were less than $200.

Jim Rutenberg at The New York Times gives us a glimpse into Chicago HQ to see how all that OFA money is being spent:

This is what 'grinding it out' looks like at President Obama's election headquarters: scores of young staff members intently clicking away at computer keyboards as they crunch gigabytes of data about which way undecided voters are leaning, where they can be reached, and when; strategists standing at whiteboards busily writing and erasing early voting numbers and turnout possibilities; a lonely Ping-Pong table. [...] As Washington and the cable news commentariat breathlessly discuss whether Mitt Romney's post-debate movement in the polls has peaked, Mr. Obama's campaign technicians ' and that's what many of them are ' are putting as much faith in the multimillion-dollar machine they built for just such a close race as in the president himself.

David Firestone analyzes Obama's early voting advantage:

In casting his ballot early, Mr. Obama is providing a very personal endorsement of a system that was enormously successful for him in 2008, and may be the key to his re-election hopes. His narrow win in North Carolina four years ago was driven in large part by early voters, who turned out in larger numbers than those on Election Day, and tended to support Mr. Obama. They also gave him a winning margin in Iowa, Florida and Colorado.

Early voting is popular among those with inflexible work or transportation schedules, who often tend to be lower-income, elderly, or minority voters and are thus more likely to be Democrats. In North Carolina four years ago, more than half the black vote was cast before Election Day, compared to 40 percent of the white vote. In many states, black voters went directly to the polls from church on the Sunday before Election Day.

Dean Bakopoulos at Bloomberg:

[A]at least according to the media's incessant reporting, a large segment of Iowa voters are still independent and undecided. And they're getting a lot of attention. I'm a registered independent, and I've spent my whole life in the Midwest -- Michigan, Wisconsin and now Iowa -- so I've gotten a lot of calls from pollsters over the years. And every time they ask me whom I plan to vote for in November, I always tell them I'm undecided.

It's always a lie.

I always know whom I'm going to vote for months before the election, though I've cast votes for at least three different parties over the years. For many Midwesterners, saying I'm undecided is akin to saying it's none of your darn business.

Newt Gingrich delivers this morning's chuckle:

Newt Gingrich is predicting that this election will be a near-landslide victory for Mitt Romney. 'I believe the minimum result will be 53-47 Romney, over 300 electoral votes, and the Republicans will pick up the Senate,' the former House speaker said Thursday night on Fox News's 'On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.'

Meanwhile, Cameron Joseph gives a more fact-based analysis the GOP's Senate chances over at The Hill:

'Never underestimate the GOP's ability to step in it at the most inopportune time. This is what happened in 2010 too,' Republican strategist Ford O'Connell told The Hill, referring to the missteps of Mourdock and Akin. 'This has the potential to cost the party control of the Senate.'

Paul Krugman compares the candidates' economic plans:

Mr. Obama may not be as bold as we'd like, but he isn't actively misleading voters the way Mr. Romney is. Furthermore, if we ask what Mr. Romney would probably do in practice, including sharp cuts in programs that aid the less well-off and the imposition of hard-money orthodoxy on the Federal Reserve, it looks like a program that might well derail the recovery and send us back into recession.

And you should never forget the broader policy context. Mr. Obama may not have an exciting economic plan, but, if he is re-elected, he will get to implement a health reform that is the biggest improvement in America's safety net since Medicare. Mr. Romney doesn't have an economic plan at all, but he is determined not just to repeal Obamacare but to impose savage cuts in Medicaid. So never mind all those bullet points. Think instead about the 45 million Americans who either will or won't receive essential health care, depending on who wins on Nov. 6.

Eugene Robinson at The Washington Post:

President Obama enters the final days of the campaign with a substantial lead among women ' about 11 points, according to the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll ' and enormous leads among Latinos and African Americans, the nation's two largest minority groups. Mitt Romney leads among white voters, with an incredible 2-to-1 advantage among white men.

It is too simplistic to conclude that demography equals destiny. Both men are being sincere when they vow to serve the interests of all Americans. But it would be disingenuous to pretend not to notice the obvious cleavage between those who have long held power in this society and those who are beginning to attain it.

When Republicans vow to 'take back our country,' they never say from whom. But we can guess.