Battle for the White House steps up a gear

US president Barack Obama kick-started his 2012 campaign for re-election with his first large-scale rally in the key battleground of Ohio.

It was the same sort of huge event that helped to put him in the White House four years ago.

Obama’s Republican rival in the election will almost certainly be Mitt Romney.

“We cannot give him that chance”, said Obama. “Not now. Not with so much at stake. This is not just another election. This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class and we’ve been through too much to turn back now.”

Although technically Romney has not yet secured enough delegates to win the Republican nomination it is only a matter of time before he does – which is why his election campaign too, is effectively underway.

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