Romney adviser: Battleground map expanded

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WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- David Plouffe, senior adviser to the president, Sunday rapped Republican nominee Mitt Romney for "traveling in the state he's not going to win," Pennsylvania.

In an appearance on ABC's "This Week," Plouffe described the Romney campaign's weekend presence in the traditionally non-swing state Pennsylvania as a "desperate ploy at the end of a campaign."

"I mean, to win Pennsylvania, Governor Romney would have to win two-thirds of the independents. He's not going to do that anywhere, much less Pennsylvania. So the truth is, they're throwing some ads up and Governor Romney is, you know, traveling in the state he's not going to win," Plouffe said.

Romney's weekend visit to Pennsylvania was part of his campaign's strategy of reconfiguring the battleground map to include Pennsylvania, Michigan and Minnesota, where campaign strategists say polls indicate he picked up ground on Obama, CNN reported.

"When you look at where this map has gone, it reflects the change and the direction and the momentum toward Governor Romney. And the fact is that a state like Pennsylvania being in play, a poll out today showing Michigan a dead heat, you know, the map has expanded," Ed Gillespie, senior adviser to Romney, said on "This Week."

"Wisconsin, Minnesota has expanded our way. We feel very confident in terms of where we are in the target states. We've been able to expand into Pennsylvania while fully funding and staying current with everything we need to be doing in Florida and Virginia and Ohio and all of the other target states," he added.

Plouffe said the Obama campaign is instead "playing offense on states [the Republicans] thought they had the inside track on," in Florida, Virginia and North Carolina.