Obama walks into a bar: Drinks and chat with the voting public. Read More!

He's become known for his campaign trail walkabout and mixing with the voting public, so few were that surprised when President Obama pitched up at an Ohio bar yesterday to try to win over the regulars.

And while the President revels in chatting and drinking with the voting public, it seems there are only certain lengths he is willing to go to to guarantee support.

Obama visited Ziggy's Pub in Amherst, Ohio on his campaign trail, only to be challenged to win over a voter by taking him on in an arm-wrestling contest.

Refreshment stop: President Obama stopped for a drink in Ohio with patrons Suzanne Woods and Jennifer Klanac during an unannounced visit

The President's unannounced stop-off was part of his two-day bus trip through Ohio and Pennsylvania

Patron Jeff Hawks used his one-on-one opportunity with the President by telling him: 'I'll arms-wrestle you for your vote', an offer Obama had to politely decline.

 

The President is then said to have added that he will, 'play basketball for your vote', before being hurried away by his campaign team.

Meeting the locals: The President chats with another regular in Ziggy's

Obama had continued the 'humourous exchange' with Mr Hawks when the pair found an apparently mutual distaste for Fox News.

Before the arm-wrestling challenge, Mr Hawks is said to have told Obama, 'You're in a building that has Fox News on'.

The President is said to have suggested that Mr Hawks could ask to change the channel, adding that 'the customer is always right'.

Mr Obama had visited the restaurant as he continues a bus tour of Ohio and Pennsylvania, hotly contested states, eager to leverage their modest economic successes into a case for his re-election.

The Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, remains at his New Hampshire vacation home amid speculation that his list of potential running mates might include a woman.

A chorus of prominent conservative voices is worrying aloud that Republican candidate Mitt Romney's play-it-safe strategy is jeopardizing his chance to win the presidency.

As President Barack Obama's campaign intensifies criticism of Romney's background, influential Republicans - right-leaning leaders in business and the media - charge that Romney's message on the economy and other issues is short on detail and muddled at best.


In an editorial Thursday, The Wall Street Journal said the Romney campaign is 'slowly squandering an historic opportunity.'

All smiles: Obama's informal stop-off appeared to go off without a hitch as the President made time for the patrons

Working the room: The President was said to have received a largely warm reception from the patrons of Ziggy's Pub in Amherst, Ohio

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Working the room: The President was said to have received a largely warm reception from the patrons of Ziggy's Pub in Amherst, Ohio

'The Romney campaign thinks it can play it safe and coast to the White House by saying the economy stinks and it's Mr. Obama's fault,' the newspaper said.

'We're on its email list and the main daily message from the campaign is that `Obama isn't working.' Thanks, guys, but Americans already know that.

'What they want to hear from the challenger is some understanding of why the president's policies aren't working and how Mr. Romney's policies will do better.'

Generation gap: Mr Obama speaks to a younger patron in the Ohio pub during his stop-off to gain support

Mine's a pint: Ohio and Pennsylvania, both stop-offs on Mr Obama's two-day tour, are both hotly contested states