Presidential Campaigns Try to Sustain Convention EnergyThe presidential campaigns move to post-convention phase as they try to sustain the energy of their respective party conventions in order to attract support from important interest groups. President Barack Obama started his two-day bus tour Saturday in Florida, which is the largest swing state. He appealed to Hispanics and senior citizens as he hopes that they are turned off by the GOP stance on Medicare.

Republican candidate Mitt Romney went to Virginia Beach, an area full of military families. He tried to reach out to them by reassuring them even if he is currently criticized for failing to mention US troops in Afghanistan during his acceptance speech in the Republican National Convention in Tampa last week.

Romney spoke at the Military Aviation Museum. He promised to rebuild America’ military might and restore proposed cuts to defense programs. A total of $100 million worth of defense and non-defense cuts were part of the compromise deal made by the White House and House Republicans last summer in order to control the deficit.

Romney blamed President Obama for the cuts and he cited excerpts from a new book by Bob Woodward to support his claim that the proposed cuts were Obama’s idea. Romney said that they love the troops who serve overseas and respect them. He promised not to cut the military and maintain military commitment.

Romney also tried to reel in the Christian conservatives by noting that the Pledge of Allegiance included the phrase “under God.” This was a jab at the Democrats who didn’t have any reference to God in their convention platform until President Obama instructed them to include it.

For his part, President Obama started his post-convention campaign in Florida with a rally attended by 11,000 supporters. The president delivered a 30 minute speech that was close to his nomination speech in Charlotte.