US Election: Bloomberg Endorses Obama

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is endorsing Barack Obama for re-election, citing the US President's leadership on climate change.

With the election this Tuesday, Democrat Mr Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney, who tempered his criticism of his rival for three days, are locked in a race so tight that both sides are predicting victory.

Mr Bloomberg has written in an online opinion piece that superstorm Sandy made the stakes of the presidential election even clearer.

He said the climate is changing and that Mr Obama has taken major steps in the right direction.

An independent and former Republican, Mr Bloomberg says GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has reversed course on a number of positions.

Earlier, Mr Obama sprinted back onto on the campaign trail after spending the last few days dealing with the aftermath of superstorm Sandy.

At his first campaign outing since the disaster struck, Mr Obama praised Americans for coming together in the wake of the storm and urged supporters to give him four more years in office.

A day after touring New Jersey damage with Republican Governor Chris Christie, Mr Obama said the storm was a reminder that political leaders can put aside partisanship to address the country's needs.

"As long as there's a single American who wants a job but can't find one, our work isn't done. As long as there are families who are working harder but falling behind, our work isn't done," he said, against the back drop of his Air Force One jet.

"Our fight goes on because America has always done its best when everybody gets a fair shot. And everybody is doing their fair share. And everybody is playing by the same rules. That's what we believe."

Mr Obama also lasered in on his battle with Mr Romney, hammering his challenger for seeking to pluck the "change" mantle from the president.

"Now, in the closing weeks of this campaign, governor Romney has been using all his talents as a salesman to dress up these very same policies that failed our country so badly, the very same policies we've been cleaning up after for the past four years - and he is offering them up as change," Mr Obama said.

Mr Romney has criticised the president as a man with no plan for the next four years, saying America cannot endure a second term of a sluggish Obama economy.

After the airport rally, Mr Obama was then bound for swing states Nevada and Colorado for events before spending the night in key battleground Ohio.

And Mr Romney, struggling to not become a blip on the radar after being sidelined by Sandy, also returned to full campaign mode on Thursday, making three stops in battleground Virginia.

"I know the Obama folks are chanting 'four more years, four more years'," Mr Romney told supporters at a rally in Roanoke, Virginia.

"But our chant is this: 'Five more days!'"

Mr Romney said of the disaster: "A lot of people lost their lives, a lot of families have been devastated, a lot of homes have been lost, and our hearts go out to the people who are suffering."

He appealed for people to give money to the Red Cross, Salvation Army or other relief efforts "to make sure we show the world and our neighbours how much we care".

The states worst hit by the superstorm were New York and New Jersey, both believed to be safe Democrat seats - but how Mr Obama managed the disaster could help him elsewhere, in so-called swing states.

Meanwhile, a new poll for the Washington Post has suggested nearly eight out of 10 voters said the president had done an "excellent" or "good" job dealing with Sandy.

Almost as many gave positive reviews to the federal government's response generally, and even two-thirds of those who support Mr Romney said Mr Obama was doing well in this area.

Polls show Mr Obama - who is also due to attend rallies in Nevada and Colorado - has a slight edge in nine key "battleground" states that are neither reliably Republican nor Democratic.