Entering the stretch, the Obama campaign is running on empty

Mitt Romney has been the target of sometimes withering criticism for offering scant details to support his campaign proposals. But could there be anything less substantial than the Obama second-term agenda? …

Obama’s real second-term agenda, as outlined in his speeches and other campaign appearances, is protecting the work of his first term. He’ll keep troops out of old war zones. He’ll protect Obamacare from repeal. He’ll keep pushing, and funding, green energy. The critics who (correctly) say Obama doesn’t have a second-term agenda sometimes miss the fact that much of Obama’s argument for re-election is that he needs another term to keep in place the things he has already done. …

Meanwhile, Obama is stepping up his effort to scare voters away from Romney. On Monday he released a new ad returning to the tried-and-true accusation that Romney will somehow outlaw all abortions in the United States. “Ban all abortions?” the ad asks. “Only if you vote for him.”