From Dayton, Ohio -

  Shadowing each other across one of the most important states in any election for the White House, Mitt Romney and President Obama made their case to voters in the Buckeye State on Wednesday, making the case that their party was best positioned to turn around economic fortunes in America.

"Were we to re-elect President Obama, there's no question in my mind that we would face four more difficult years," Romney said at an evening rally in Toledo.

"My opponent and his running mate are big believers in top-down economics," said the President at a rally at Bowling Green State University, which is south of Toledo.

"I don’t believe we can get very far with leaders who write off half the nation as a bunch of victims who never take responsibility for their own lives," the President added, taking aim at Romney's "47 percent" remark.

"I'm going to lower the tax rates, he wants to raise them," said Romney to cheers.

"I'm going to create jobs, he'll kill them," the Republican nominee added.

Both men stumped for votes in the Toledo area and southeast of Cleveland as new polls again suggested an expanding lead for the President - not only in Ohio, but in other swing states as well.

On Thursday, both men will again duke it out in the same state, as President Obama goes to Virginia Beach, Virginia, while Romney is in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.

Romney will also hold a fundraiser in the District of Columbia on Thursday night.