FILE - In this Sept. 26, 2012, file photo election clerk Karl Althaus sorts through boxes of absentee ballots at the Polk County Election Office in Des Moines, Iowa. Five weeks to Election Day, President Barack Obama is within reach of the requisite 270 Electoral College votes needed to win a second term according to an Associated Press analysis. Mitt Romney can still prevail in the race to amass the necessary votes, but his path to victory has become much narrower. To overtake Obama, the Republican challenger would need to quickly gain the upper hand in nearly all of the nine states where he and Obama are competing the hardest. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
