… History is an imperfect guide to the future, but as the presidential campaign moves into its final eight weeks, Obama and Romney may be looking to the past for inspiration and encouragement as they try to open up what has been a closely fought contest.
For Romney, that past campaign is 1980, when a challenger who happened to be a former governor struggled for months to gain the upper hand against a weakened and vulnerable incumbent, only to break open the election in the final days of the campaign.
For Obama, it may be 2004, when an embattled incumbent with approval ratings hovering below 50 percent and the country soured on the administration’s major undertaking managed to find a path to victory over a challenger tagged as a flip-flopper who had trouble connecting with voters. [cont.]
Dan Balz and Philip Rucker, Washington Post