Mitt Romney has derided President Barack Obama, saying his rival has “no agenda” worthy of a second term in office.
At a campaign rally in Florida, Mitt Romney said the Obama campaign had been “reduced to petty attacks and silly word games”.
Hours earlier, Barack Obama decried Mitt Romney for shifting his positions as election day draws nearer, saying the Republican suffers from “Romnesia”.
The two meet for their final debate, on foreign policy, in Florida on Monday.
Mitt Romney and the Republicans are continuing to focus on the Obama administration’s handling of a deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans including the US ambassador were killed.
The incident provoked a flashpoint during Tuesday’s second debate, and is likely to be hotly debated again in Boca Raton.
Friday’s campaigning saw both candidates make one major stop each: Barack Obama in the Washington DC suburb of Fairfax, Virginia, and Mitt Romney in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Barack Obama told supporters that Mitt Romney was now only becoming more moderate as the election got closer.
“He is forgetting what his own positions are and he is betting that you are too,” Barack Obama said, giving his rival’s “condition” a crowd-pleasing name: “Romnesia”.
The president renewed his pitch to women voters, arguing that “you don’t want someone who needs to ask for binders full of women,” a reference to Mitt Romney’s description of how he recruited women for cabinet positions as governor of Massachusetts.
“You want a president who’s already appointed two unbelievable women to the Supreme Court of the United States.”
Former President Bill Clinton also campaigned for Barack Obama on Friday in Wisconsin.
Mitt Romney, appearing later on stage with running mate Paul Ryan, described the Obama campaign as “the incredible shrinking campaign”.
“Have you been watching the Obama campaign lately?” Mitt Romney told supporters at the Dayton Beach bandshell.
“They have no agenda for the future, no agenda for America, no agenda for a second term. It’s a good thing they won’t have a second term.”
Mitt Romney said the Obama campaign had been “reduced to petty attacks and silly word games”.
Recent polls show an ever-tightening race, including in key election states.
A CNN poll on Friday suggested Mitt Romney has a slender 1% lead in Florida, within the poll’s margin of error. A separate poll gave a similar edge to Mitt Romney in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Both candidates are also trying to gain as many votes as possible through early voting, already under way in many states across the US. Election day itself is Tuesday 6 November.
With the election now less than three weeks away, newspapers are beginning to hand out their endorsements. On Friday, Barack Obama won the endorsement of the Salt Lake Tribune – despite the city being home to Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith.
Elsewhere, The Tennessean, which often endorses Democratic candidates for president, chose Mitt Romney.
It was also reported on Friday that seven of the key “swing states” in the US election had seen their unemployment figures fall over the past 12 months.
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Venezuelan voters are set to go to the polls in what is predicted to be the country’s most tightly contested presidential election in a decade.
Left-wing incumbent Hugo Chavez, first elected in 1999, is being challenged by opposition leader Henrique Capriles.
Hugo Chavez wants to continue what he calls his socialist revolution while Henrique Capriles has promised to restore economic growth.
Almost 19 million Venezuelans are eligible to vote in the election.
Hugo Chavez – who is seeking a fourth term in office – was diagnosed with cancer last year but says he has now fully recovered.
A colorful and often controversial figure on the international stage, President Hugo Chavez, 58, has nationalized key sectors of the economy.
Venezuela is a major oil producer and high oil prices over the past decade have allowed his government to fund health-care, education programmes and social housing.
He says he needs another term to complete his “Bolivarian Revolution” towards socialism.
However, Henrique Capriles, 40, and the opposition say the president’s policies have led to bureaucracy, inefficiency, and shortages.
They also accuse Hugo Chavez of authoritarianism and of suppressing the judiciary and silencing critics in the media.
Henrique Capriles says a lack of investment in Venezuela’s crucial oil industry has led to a decline in production.
Both candidates held huge final rallies on Thursday – the last day of campaigning.
The two candidates have also used social media to encourage voters to cast their ballots.
“Good morning to all, one day left to open the door to the future!” Henrique Capriles wrote on his Twitter account on Saturday.
“Comrades across the world: Be assured that Bolivar’s people will continue to work to make another world possible, that is, a socialist one!” President Hugo Chavez tweeted.
Almost 140,000 soldiers will be deployed to guard more than 10,000 voting centres.
A week before the election, three opposition activists were killed during a campaign rally, and four people were injured in a shooting during a voting rehearsal in September.
From Saturday evening to Monday evening, the sale of alcohol is banned and only the security forces will be allowed to carry arms.
National Electoral Council official Socorro Hernandez said that everything would be “100% ready for polling day”.
She called on all parties and non-governmental groups to contribute to a peaceful election “and avoid any distortions”.
While polls are scheduled to close at 18:00 local time, National Electoral Council President Tibisay Lucena said that the hours could be extended if voters were still queuing to cast their ballots.
Two opposition politicians have been killed in Venezuela during a campaign rally, a week before the country’s presidential election.
Geison Valero belonged to the opposition party First Justice and Omar Fernandez was an independent.
The First Justice party said they were campaigning for opposition leader Henrique Capriles in Barinas state when gunmen shot them dead.
Witnesses said the vehicle belonged to the state oil company PDVSA.
But there has been no confirmation of this from the Venezuelan authorities.
A statement by the party said a rally had been planned in Barinas, President Hugo Chavez’s home state, but the road was blocked by government supporters.
When the two men left their car to try to gain access, they were fired on by gunmen inside a van, it said.
Hugo Chavez and Henrique Capriles are wrapping up their campaigns over the next few days ahead of the 7 October elections.
There have been other incidents of violence on the campaign trail. Supporters of both candidates threw stones at each other earlier this month when Henrique Capriles attempted to march through the city of Puerto Cabello.
And four people were injured in a shooting that erupted during a voting rehearsal at the beginning of September.
With violent crime a key concern for voters, there are fears that further violence could erupt in what has become Venezuela’s closest fought election in over a decade.
Hugo Chavez has been in power since 1999, but was diagnosed with cancer last year.
More than 30 opposition parties have backed a single candidate, Henrique Capriles, to challenge the leftist president.
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