While President Obama and Mitt Romney prepare for their next debate, their running mates hit the campaign trail to rally voters in key battleground states.<br/> <br />SOUNDBITE: Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan saying:<br/> <br />"The President has been ducking these issues, blaming other people, playing partisan politics."<br/> <br />SOUNDBITE: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden saying:<br/> <br />"Romney Wasn't Sketchy, He Was Etch-A-Sketchy."<br/> <br />In Ohio, Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan took aim at Obama.<br/> <br />SOUNDBITE: Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan saying:Never in the history of this country has one generation knowingly consigned its' next generation to a lower living standard."<br/> <br />Republicans are hoping to sway voters in Ohio's economically hard hit Appalachian region, while Democrats focus on the state's more populated urban centers.<br/> <br />In the sunshine state of Florida, Vice President Joe Biden accused Romney of changing his positions based on polls.<br/> <br />SOUNDBITE: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden saying:<br/> <br />"Presidential elections are about character, and the character of your convictions, and my guy, he never tells you anything he doesn't mean and he doesn't do."<br/> <br />The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll shows Obama with a microscopic lead, 46 percent to Romney's 45 percent ----a margin so slim that most analysts are calling the race a dead heat.
