Barack Obama arrives at JFK. (Photo: Getty)

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y.  -- The race between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney has seen polls tighten in recent days, but at Hofstra University ahead of tonight's debate, Mr. Obama's campaign manager Jim Messina repeatedly said the re-election effort is doing great in every swing state across the country.

"When you're within the margin of error, you're losing," Mr. Messina declared on the floor of the media filing center as an ever-growing scrum of reporters gathered around  him. "And that's exactly what they're doing in Ohio. We are leading in battleground states. We're leading in important places like Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin because there's a clear difference of selection. Romney's going to struggle to defend his positions on outsourcing....These issues matter and that's what we're going to hear about tonight."

Pressed again on whether there are any variances across the country, Mr. Messina answered by listing every state his campaign is remotely trying to compete in, citing Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and "even Arizona."

"We continue to feel very good about Colorado," the Denver-born political operative quickly added. "The Broncos performed amazing in the second half last night! We feel good about that."

"You described all the battleground states," a reported pointed out, which caused Mr. Messina to return to his Midwest staples.

Asked why his campaign is deploying resources and surrogates in places like Wisconsin if the Midwest is going so swimmingly, Mr. Messina replied, "It's a battleground state and we can't take anything for granted."