Obama adviser: Strong turnout will win it for us

President Obama's campaign manager is telling volunteers they will win next week if they maintain their get-out-the-vote efforts.

"The president will win re-election if we do what we need to do," said campaign manager Jim Messina in a video e-mailed to backers.

Messina touts early and absentee voting efforts, saying they have put Obama in a strong position to defeat Republican Mitt Romney in Ohio and other key states.

"But we've got a lot of work left to do," Messina adds. "So I need you to dig deep, to give everything you've got for the next week."

In a statement accompanying the video, the Obama campaign said:

"After more than 18 months of hard work, we've registered millions of new voters, opened thousands of field offices and staging locations across all fifteen states, and over four million Americans have donated to own a piece of the campaign.

"Not only is President Obama ahead or tied in every battleground state, but our supporters have already turned out to vote early -- and we're winning among early voters in the battleground states that will decide this election."

Romney aides disputed Messina's analysis, noting that the GOP candidate is picking up support in such Democratic-leaning states as Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, as well as more traditional battleground states.

Rich Beeson, Romney's political director, said:

"While the race is breaking to the advantage of Governor Romney, the Obama campaign continues with their desperate and flailing spin in an attempt to explain why suddenly states that were never considered in play are up for grabs. President Obama is playing defense in states that were once considered safely in his column.

"If the other side was on the move, they would be expanding into states that John McCain won in 2008; instead, they're fighting to maintain turf in traditionally Democratic states."