Mitt Romney To Make 'Closing Argument' Speech On Friday In Iowa

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney will deliver what his campaign is billing as a "closing argument" Friday in a major speech in Iowa focused largely on the economy, a Romney campaign official told The Huffington Post.

Romney will fly from Ohio to Ames, Iowa, in the middle of a two-day trip to the Buckeye State, a must-win for the Republican presidential nominee, according to the official, who was not authorized to speak on the campaign's strategy in the closing weeks before the election.

On Saturday, Romney will campaign in Florida, and then on Sunday, he'll hit Northern Virginia and the Virginia Beach/Norfolk area.

Romney has gained in polls over the last month, and leads in the Gallup and Rasmussen national tracking polls. But he still trails in most surveys of voters in a few key battleground states, Ohio being the most prominent. If Romney were to win Ohio -- in addition to Florida and Virginia -- Iowa would be one of a handful of tossup states that would put him over the mark of 270 electoral votes, and deliver him the presidency.