Charlotte, NC - Republican Mitt Romney casts President Barack Obama as a failed coach of a struggling team.

Obama dismisses the GOP convention as an event suited to the era of black-and-white TV and promises to outline "a better path forward" at the upcoming Democratic convention.

The two rivals campaigned Saturday across several battleground states in the closely fought presidential contest. Obama was in Iowa before heading to Colorado. The president is on a three-day tour that will take him into his convention, which begins Tuesday in Charlotte, N.C.

Romney spoke at rallies in Ohio and Florida before heading to his vacation home in New Hampshire for some time off the campaign trail.