Mitt draws big crowd in Bucks County as Pa. race remains tight; Clinton here today

Mitt Romney spoke to an enthusiastic, flag-waving crowd in Yardley, Bucks County last night as he pressed his campaign’s late push to capture Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes.

Romney spoke as a new poll showed him within three points of President Obama in Pennsylvania, and Democrats planned four pre-election rallies featuring Bill Clinton.

The crowd estimated at 20,000 waited outdoors in a chilly wind at the Shady Brook Farm for more than an hour to hear the candidate make his familiar pitch to vote President Obama out of the White House.

“The question of this election comes down to this. Do you want four more years like the last four, or do you want real change!” Romney said, generating a huge ovation.

Romney’s visit reflects a change in strategy by his campaign in the last 10 days of the race to focus on Pennsylvania, a state which had been essentially conceded to Obama.

The Romney campaign and allied conservative groups put $6 million into TV advertising in Pennsylvania the last week of the race.

Much of it focused on improving his standing with women, among whom he has trailed the president in polls. Romney didn’t forget that message in his speech.

“Think of all the single moms who are scraping and saving to get by so they can make sure and have a good meal on the table for their kids at the end of the day,” Romney said, adding that his plans to create jobs would ease their burden.

Romney spoke about 25 minutes, and finished by exhorting his supporters to push hard on election day.

“We’ve known many long days, and short nights, and now we’re close,” Romney said.  “The door to a brighter future is there. It’s open, it’s waiting for us.  I need your vote, I need your work. I want you to walk with me. We’re taking back America!”

As the crowd filed out, several said the election was about preserving freedom.

“I hear things coming from our president that I remember hearing as a boy coming from Communist Russia,” said Cliff Crose, a retired engineer from Upper Makefield. “I’d like to take our freedoms back.”

Monday it’s the Democrats’ turn to rally supporters for election day. Former president Bill Clinton will hold four rallies in Pennsylvania, two in the Philadelphia area. He’ll speak in Pittsburgh, Scranton, Blue Bell, and at the Palestra on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia.

A new Muhlenberg College poll shows Obama leading Romney by three points in Pennsylvania, 49 to 46 percent.