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Campaign Entering Crucial 8-Day Stretch

By Larry Kane

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - It is now 22 days away -- the most expensive election in U.S. history.

From now through next Monday could be the biggest eight days of this campaign.

President Obama and Mitt Romney are doing their homework getting ready for the second debate tomorrow night. That and the final debate next Monday, plus the array of polls coming in from swing states, and you have an action-packed week.

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(KYW's Larry Kane)

This week may see an answer to two questions: will Mitt Romney's surge continue in certain swing states? And, can President Obama regain the momentum following the October 3rd debate setback?

The biggest suspense: which state will decide a close election? More and more emphasis is being put on Colorado and Wisconsin, because Iowa and Ohio show more comfortable Obama leads.

Here's the real problem for both sides: the polls in the battleground states keep changing. Romney has closed the gap in Ohio and Iowa, but not enough. Obama is challenged in Florida. One state now in serious play is Nevada. And Senator Rob Portman says that Romney could win without Portman's home state of Ohio.

The issue is how to spend money and where. The professionals know that in the final weeks, money talks. Just ask John Kerry, who failed to pour money into Ohio in 2004 and lost the election because of it.

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