President Barack Obama admits he lost his first debate because he ‘was just too polite’


WASHINGTON (AP) ― Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney tried to win Ohio voters Wednesday by promising new jobs, while President Barack Obama urged his supporters to stay focused even though he admitted he lost his first debate because he said he “was just too polite.”

Romney was spending a second day in Ohio Wednesday, a must-win state in the November election, as he tries to build on a shift in momentum that has him closing in on Obama after the incumbent’s dismal performance in last week’s debate.

“I think it’s fair to say we will see a little more activity at the next one,” Obama said in a radio interview as he looked forward to the second of three debates the White House rivals have planned this month.

Romney got some preparation for Tuesday’s town hall style debate at New York’s Hofstra University by taking questions from voters at a manufacturing plant. “I spent my life working, working in enterprises. I understand how jobs come and why they go,” Romney said. “I want to bring it back. I want to use that skill and that knowledge to get America working again.”

With polls showing the close race drawing tighter, voters still say the U.S. economy is uppermost in their minds as the Nov. 6 election moves into its final month.

The Romney campaign has new hope that they can win over working class voters after his sharp debate performance last week, with polls in Ohio and elsewhere showing signs of a bounce. A new CNN poll showed Obama leading Romney 51 percent to 47 percent among likely Ohio voters, depicting a tighter race.

Ohio is one of a handful of so-called swing-states where voters do not reliably vote for the Democratic or Republican presidential candidate. That makes those states critically important because the U.S. president is not chosen in the popular vote count nationwide but in a series of state-by-state contests. No Republican candidate has ever won the White House without capturing Ohio.

Obama said the race was bound to be close after Americans have “just gone through four really tough years.”

“Governor Romney kept on making mistakes month after month so it made it look artificially like this was, might end up being a cakewalk,” Obama said in his radio interview. “But we understood internally that it never would be.”

Obama compared his debate performance as losing one game of a seven-game championship series in basketball. Radio host Tom Joyner interjected, “Yeah, but you had the open shot and you didn’t take it.”

“Yeah, I understand,” Obama said. “But, you know, what happens though is that when people lose one game, you know, this is a long haul.”

The president predicted, “By next week, I think a lot of the hand-wringing will be complete because we’re going to go ahead and win this thing.” He encouraged his supporters to pay close attention to voter registration deadlines that are coming up.

Before Obama and Romney face off, the attention first turns to the vice presidential debate Thursday night in Kentucky. While both of their campaigns tried to downplay expectations ahead of the first presidential debate, the pair expressed confidence in their running mates.

“Paul Ryan will do great,” Romney said. Obama said Vice President Joe Biden “will be terrific.”

While he’s made some gains since his strong debate performance, Romney is still trying to recover from his secretly videotaped remarks that the 47 percent of Americans who don’t pay income taxes believe they are victims, especially among working class voters. He targeted those voters in a visit to the Ariel Corporation, which makes compressors to extract and distribute natural gas, touring the factory floor and shaking hands with the workers.

“My whole passion is about helping the American people who are struggling right now,” Romney said in his town hall afterward. “That’s what this is about. The president says he’s for the middle class. How have they done under his presidency? Not so well. I want to help the middle class get good jobs and better take-home pay. I know how to do that.”

Romney’s comments on abortion to an Iowa newspaper Monday brought new attention to social issues. Romney told The Des Moines Register in an interview Tuesday that he would not pursue any abortion-related legislation if elected president. His campaign tried to walk back the remarks, saying he would support legislation aimed at providing greater protections for life, without elaborating.

Obama’s campaign jumped on the apparent shift to shore up support among women. Deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter told reporters on a conference call that Romney was “cynically and dishonestly” hiding his positions on abortion and other women’s issues and the incumbent’s campaign would seek to ensure that women are “not fooled.”