By Morgan Hall

Co-Editor in Chief

In 41 days, the 2012 presidential elections will take place and during that time the race will be heating up for several states.  Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin will be key to the 2012 presidential election.

Candidate  Barack Obama (Democrat) and Mitt Romney (Republican) will spend the remainder of their time and resources attempting to campaign the last few weeks for the remaining close or undecided battleground states.

For Romney, his plans might include attempting to appeal to Independents and women in Colorado and retirees and Hispanic voters in Florida.  In the ’08 elections, Obama won Florida with 50.9 percent of the popular vote and Colorado with 53.5 percent. Two of Obama’s biggest hurdles might be Florida and Nevada.

The economy in both states has dipped substantially and both Nevada and Florida have the highest foreclosure rates in the U.S., which might have some voters uneasy with Obama’s economic plans. Obama will attempt to appeal to the Hispanic voters in Nevada but will also be faced with the possibility of an unexpectedly high election day turnout of Mormon voters for the Mormon candidate, Romney. Nevada has the fourth largest population of Mormons in the United States, with 6.5 percent.

Romney has been campaigning hard with anti-Obama attack ads in Iowa and New Hampshire. Recent Iowa polls show Obama’s approval rating ha staken a  significant dip since the ‘08 elections, but still shows Obama on top.  Although Michigan seems to be leaning Democrat and North Carolina seems to be leaning Republican, each party’s lead is only slight. Romney’s home state of Michigan shows a nine-point margin between the two candidates and 30 percent of voters remain undecided.

Both candidates will be attempting to appeal to Ohio’s and Wisconsin’s white middle class voters. Obama has the difficult task of winning over Republican vice president candidate Paul Ryan’s home state of Wisconsin. Ohio’s low unemployment rate seems to be in Obama’s favor. Virginia seems to be Obama’s to lose after a population shift in political demographics in ‘08 caused Obama to be the first Democratic candidate to win a Virginian vote.  Virginia’s low unemployment rate also gives Obama an upper hand.