Obama says tight race doesn't surprise him, despite accomplishments

By Jessica Hopper Rock Center In the midst of 48 hours of non-stop campaigning in crucial swing states, President Barack Obama said that the tightening of the race between he and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney doesn't surprise him. Brian Williams with President Barack Obama in Davenport, IA on Oct. 24, 2012 In an exclusive interview with NBC News' Brian Williams today, during a campaign stop in Davenport, Iowa, the president said that he never believed that the excitement surrounding his historic election four years ago and the achievement of taking out al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden would inflate his likelihood of re-election. "You guys have some short memories. Folks in your business were writing me off a year ago, saying there's no way I would win," President Obama said. "These things go in ebbs and flows and, you know, the one thing I've tried to always be is just steady in terms of what I believe in, who I'm fighting for, and, you know, I think that one of the qualities I bring to bear in this campaign is, people see, what did I say I was going to do in 2008?  And what have I delivered?  And they can have some confidence that the things I say, I mean." Both the president and former Massachusetts Governor Romney are fiercely campaigning, criss-crossing the country in the final 13 days of the campaign. After speaking to the crowd in Davenport, the president's first stop in a seven-state campaign blitz, Obama sat down with Williams and discussed his relationship with Romney, his lackluster performance in the election's first presidential debate and his administration's handling of the crisis in Libya. From Iowa, the president travels to Colorado and Nevada for campaign events before flying overnight to Florida to continue the second day of his battleground swing. NBC News cameras have been granted wide-ranging access to the president as he embarks on his multi-state journey in the all-out push to appeal to voters. Clips from the president's interview will be aired Wednesday evening on NBC Nightly News and Thursday morning on Today, with a complete behind-the-scenes profile airing Thursday night at 10pm/9c on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.