HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. – Fresh off an intensely combative debate, President Barack Obama, Republican Mitt Romney and their running mates are taking their tuned-up fight to the precious few battleground states where the election is up for grabs with just 20 days to go.

In the sprint to Election Day, Nov. 6, every aspect of the campaign seems to be taking on a fresh sense of urgency — the ads, the fundraising, the grass-roots mobilizing and the outreach to key voting blocs, particularly women. Obama wore a pink breast cancer bracelet while campaigning in Iowa and Romney's campaign dispatched former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to introduce vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan in Ohio.

Rice and Ryan highlighted the plight of women in the current economy, with Ryan reading statistics from the podium on female unemployment and poverty rates under Obama's leadership. "We need to get people back to work," Ryan said. "We need to get this economy turned around."