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Download After a grueling 18-month battle, the final US campaign day arrived on Monday for President Barack Obama and rival Mitt Romney, two men on a course for the US top job. The candidates have attended hundreds of rallies, fundraisers and town halls, spent billions on attack ads, ground games and get out the vote efforts, and squared off in three debates. Their running mates - Vice-President Joe Biden and Republican congressman Paul Ryan, have laid out the rationales for their bosses' aspirations. First Lady Michelle Obama, Romney's wife Ann and countless surrogates on both sides have made the case. Monday marks the final attempt by incumbent and challenger to convince undecided voters that their policies, their platforms and their approach to leading the United States forward are the right ones come 2013. And with polls showing that, for the most part, each has an equal shot at the White House, Obama and Romney will engage in unvarnished efforts to mobilize their core supporters. "I need you, Ohio," Obama told a 20,000-strong crowd in Cincinnati, in a state for which both candidates are fighting tooth and nail. Both candidates campaigned deep into the night on Sunday, with Romney, too, imploring his supporters to get out the vote in the handful of battleground states where the next occupant of the White House will be decided. The final dash underlined the tightness of a race that is drawing to a close with the rival candidates and their aides confidently predicting victory after months of campaigning and conflicting fortunes in opinion polls. | 
