Defiance, Ohio: Republican Mitt Romney is renewing his focus on the nation’s economy while facing continued pressure to break his silence on a GOP Senate candidate’s statement that any pregnancy resulting from rape is “something God intended.”

As Election Day looms less than two weeks away, the Republican presidential contender is also trying to move past new questions about his role in a key supporter’s divorce. Court documents released on Thursday reveal that Romney created a special class of company stock for Staples founder Tom Stemberg’s then-wife as a “favour”.

Romney has so far ignored the criticism and is instead accusing President Barack Obama of playing partisan politics in an “incredibly shrinking campaign.”

“This campaign is growing. The momentum is building. We’re taking back America,” Romney told 12,000 supporters in Ohio late on Thursday, the same night that media trackers confirmed the Republican’s campaign was expanding its television advertising into Minnesota.

The economy was to play prominently in the presidential contest on Friday.

As Obama takes a break from the campaign trail, Romney was to deliver what his campaign billed as a significant economic address in swing state Iowa. While he was not expected to break new ground, his campaign said Romney would use the speech to help crystalise the differences between each candidate’s economic approach on the same day the government issues its final report on GDP growth before the November 6 election.

The report — set for release at 8.30am — was expected to show that growth picked up only slightly in the third quarter. Tepid growth has given Romney an opening to challenge Obama’s assessment that the economy is moving in the right direction.

Obama arrived back in Washington late Thursday following a 40-hour battleground state blitz that took him to eight states. He was taking a brief break from the campaign trail Friday and planned to spend much of the day at the White House.

But the Democratic campaign wasn’t ceding the spotlight to Romney. Obama had a series of interviews scheduled, including several with local television stations in swing states.

The president was also using a trio of national interviews to reach key constituencies, including an MTV interview aimed at rallying the youth vote and a sit-down with American Urban Radio Networks, which has a largely black audience.

The president was also scheduled to talk with Michael Smerconish, the conservative-leaning radio host who backed Obama in the 2008 election.

On Thursday, the president made repeated, though indirect, references to Indiana Republican Richard Mourdock’s controversial comment on rape and pregnancy.

“We’ve seen again this week, I don’t think any male politicians should be making health care decisions for women,” Obama told a crowd of about 15,000 in Richmond, Va. The president’s aides pressed further, using a web video to highlight Romney’s endorsement of Mourdock and to accuse the GOP nominee of kowtowing to his party’s extreme elements.