Obama campaign: It's 'game day'

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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Sept. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama's re-election campaign said Thursday is "Game Day in America," with early voting under way in dozens of states.

Campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters covering Obama's campaign trip to Virginia Beach, Va., the presidential race in that state is "very close. It's within the margin of error."

Some polls this week indicated Obama had a slight lead over Republican nominee Mitt Romney but Psaki said the Obama campaign plans to run "regardless of where the polls are in Virginia like we're five points behind."

"I will mention that, not in Virginia, but today early voting starts in Iowa, early voting is happening in dozens of states across the country," Psaki said. "It's Game Day in America -- that's not just a play on the [NFL] refs' resolution."

Psaki said the Obama campaign would focus on "making sure people know where to vote, how to vote; they can vote early at this stage in the race."

Obama told an estimated 7,000 people at a rally in Virginia Beach the country is "moving forward again" but "we're not where we need to be."

"And I won't pretend that getting there is easy," he said. "The truth is it's going to take a few more years to solve challenges that were building up over decades."

As Obama and Romney both campaigned in Virginia Thursday, Politico reported Romney intends to use the first of three debates with Obama as a platform to depict the president as untrustworthy.

The report said top Republicans, including political strategist and Wall Street Journal columnist Karl Rove, are signaling Romney will question Obama on truthfulness and on whether he has kept campaign promises.

Psaki told reporters Thursday Romney "and his team have a tendency to look at the president and make outrageous accusations about his truthfulness," but she said the Republican campaign has a "record of mistruths.

"If Mitt Romney were Pinocchio, his nose would be reaching from Virginia to Ohio, with the number of lies and untruths in the ads that his team has put out."

Romney told CBS News Wednesday the Obama campaign is engaging in "character assassination" and tries to "completely misrepresent my point of view."