Obama’s lead grows in polls ahead of debate

We are now five weeks out from Election Day and the president continues to hold a slim national lead over Mitt Romney on the eve of the first presidential debate.

But according to the electoral map, one more state has, at least for now, moved from the toss-up category to the “leans Obama” column – and it’s a big one: Ohio.

RealClearPolitics averages all the most recent national polls and it gives Barack Obama a 3.5 percent lead, nationally.

In terms of electoral votes, and remember you need 270 to win the Presidency, RealClearPolitics has the president with 265 already and Romney 191. Eighty-two are still toss-up.

To combat those numbers, Karl Rove’s Super Pac has just launched a new campaign ad in key battleground states.

According to Salon.com, this is part of a new GOP offensive designed to portray the president as weak on national security. It’s dubbed “the Jimmy Carter strategy.”

The Republicans are expected to also go after the president on being woefully unprepared for the attack on the U.S. Ambassador in Libya.