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U.S. President Barack Obama greets supporters during a campaign rally at Washington Park November 3, 2012 in Dubuque, Iowa. Obama and Republican foe Mitt Romney power into a final weekend of campaigning before handing their fates to voters after a bitter, gruelling White House race, which will take place on November 6.[Xinhua/AFP]

U.S. President Barack Obama continued to enjoy a slight lead over his Republican rival Mitt Romney in key states that could decide the election.

About 25 million people have already voted in 34 states and the District of Columbia. No votes will be counted until Election Day but several battleground states are releasing the party affiliation of people who have voted early.

But Obama's advantage isn't as big as the one he had over John McCain four years ago, and that gives Romney's campaign hope that he can erase the gap in Tuesday's election.

So far, Democratic voters outnumber Republicans in Florida, Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio. Republicans have the edge in Colorado.

According to new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls, in Ohio, Obama holds a six-point advantage over Romney among likely voters, 51 percent to 45 percent, which is unchanged from last month's poll in the Buckeye State.

In Florida, the president gets support from 49 percent of likely voters, while his GOP challenger gets 47 percent. Those figures are virtually identical to the ones from October, when Obama garnered 48 percent, Romney, 47 percent.

These two states are two of the biggest prizes in Tuesday's presidential contest. An Obama victory in Ohio, which has 18 electoral votes, would put him tantalizingly close to getting to the 270 electoral votes needed to win a second term, and a Romney win would put Obama in the defensive.

Florida, which has 29 electoral votes, is a must-win state for Romney. His loss in the state would practically mean Obama's reelection, even without Ohio.

The Obama campaign made its last ad buy of the election Friday, overwhelmingly focusing on Florida and Virginia, another must-win state for Romney since Obama is believed to lead the overall electoral count. Virginia has 13 electoral votes.

The Romney campaign has been counting on winning both Florida and Virginia, without which the Republican nominee is almost certain to lose the election. Romney is holding two events in Virginia on Monday, a day before the election.

Frenzied campaigning

After holding mostly small and mid-size rallies for much of the campaign, Obama's team is planning a series of larger events this weekend aimed at drawing big crowds in battleground states. Still, the campaign isn't expecting to draw the massive audiences Obama had in the closing days of the 2008 race, when his rallies drew more than 50,000.

Obama's closing weekend also includes two joint events with former President Bill Clinton: a rally last night in Virginia and an event today in New Hampshire. The two presidents had planned to campaign together across three states earlier this week, but that trip was called off because of superstorm Sandy. And, of course, there is always Ohio, the top battleground of them all.

Not to be outdone, Romney hosted a massive rally Friday night in West Chester, Ohio, drawing more than 10,000 people to the Cincinnati area for an event that featured rock stars, sports celebrities and dozens of Republican officials. It was a high-energy event on a cold night designed to kick off his own sprint to the finish.

Romney arrived in New Hampshire close to midnight on Friday after an 18-hour day on the campaign trail that took him from Virginia to Wisconsin to Ohio. He shifted an original plan to campaign in Nevada today in favor of a schedule likely to bring him back to Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

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