DENVER (Reuters) – Heading into his first debate with Democratic President Barack Obama on Wednesday, Republican Mitt Romney has some convincing to do.

During the next five weeks – and three debates – Romney will make an appeal to voters aimed at overcoming an Obama campaign that has outflanked his own for much of the past four months. Romney enters the final sprint to the November 6 election behind in national polls and trailing in most of the nine or so politically divided “swing” states that are likely to decide the election.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s lead over Republican Mitt Romney dipped slightly to five percentage points ahead of next week’s first debate in the race for the White House, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday.

Obama leads Romney among likely voters by 47 percent to 42 percent in the daily online tracking poll, down from Thursday’s 7-point advantage of 49 percent to 42 percent.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – If history is a guide, Democrat Barack Obama will have a tough time in the first presidential debate on Wednesday, Republican Mitt Romney will be particularly aggressive, and both will risk committing a damaging gaffe if they wander off their talking points.

The 90-minute showdown in Denver – the first of three televised Obama-Romney encounters in October that will set the tone for the final month of the presidential campaign – will feature two experienced and competent debaters who are at their best in scripted settings.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican Mitt Romney struggled on Tuesday to steady his reeling White House campaign after a secretly recorded video showed him dismissing President Barack Obama’s supporters – almost half the country’s voters – as victims who are too dependent on government.

The video from a closed-door fundraiser in Florida in May sparked a new wave of criticism of Romney’s gaffe-plagued presidential bid and raised questions about his ability to come from behind in the polls and win the November 6 election.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Already reeling from a secret video showing him deriding 47 percent of the U.S. electorate, Republican Mitt Romney’s campaign hit more trouble on Tuesday when new images surfaced in which he accused Palestinians of not wanting peace.

The videos, taken at the same closed-door fundraiser in Florida in May, have knocked Romney’s gaffe-plagued campaign even more off stride and raised fresh questions about whether he can come from behind in the polls and win the White House in November.

WASHINGTON, Sept 17 (Reuters) – After a difficult week that
sparked a burst of Republican hand-wringing, Mitt Romney’s
campaign team fought back on Monday against a report of disarray
in his inner circle and promised to retool his message with more
specifics of his policies.

Senior adviser Ed Gillespie struck an optimistic tone
despite the Republican worries, saying President Barack Obama’s
post-Democratic convention bounce in polls had faded and the
race for the White House had tightened again ahead of the Nov. 6
election.

WASHINGTON, Sept 17 (Reuters) – After a difficult week that
sparked a wave of Republican hand-wringing, Mitt Romney’s
campaign team fought back on Monday against a report of disarray
in his inner circle and promised to retool his message with more
specifics of his policies.

Senior adviser Ed Gillespie struck an optimistic tone
despite the Republican worries, saying President Barack Obama’s
post-convention bounce in polls had faded and the race for the
White House had tightened again ahead of the Nov. 6 election.

WASHINGTON, Sept 14 (Reuters) – Republican vice presidential
nominee Paul Ryan launched a broad assault on President Barack
Obama in a speech to social conservatives on Friday, accusing
him of pandering to extremists on abortion and emboldening U.S.
enemies in the Middle East.

The Wisconsin congressman told the Values Voters Summit, an
annual gathering of religious and conservative activists, that
Obama had led a “reckless expansion of federal power” and waged
economic class warfare.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – For Mitt Romney, it began late Tuesday as an aggressive effort to criticize President Barack Obama’s policies in Egypt and Libya by portraying the administration as apologetic while mobs attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and the embassy in Cairo.

By the end of the day on Wednesday, Romney’s venture into a fast-moving foreign policy crisis that involved the slayings of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other diplomats had become a public relations debacle for the Republican’s presidential campaign.

WASHINGTON, Sept 12 (Reuters) – For months, Republican Mitt
Romney’s presidential campaign has been built on broad themes:
cut taxes, repeal and replace Democratic President Barack
Obama’s healthcare overhaul, increase defense spending.

But when it comes to specifics – namely, how to pay for the
tax cuts and extra spending, and what exactly a Romney
healthcare plan would look like – Romney has been reluctant to
give details, essentially gambling that Americans’ frustration
with high unemployment rates and a struggling economy will be
enough to propel him to the White House.