US presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney address large crowds as they criss-cross key battleground states ahead of Tuesday's election.

My comments:

If two roads cross, they meet. If many roads meet and go across each other, they criss-cross.

In the above example, US presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney travelled a lot during these past few days in the run-up to the election. And if you draw straight lines between all the places they’ve been to, these straight lines will form a pattern of lines criss-crossing each other.

In short, the candidates have been on the road, thither and hither, non-stop, campaigning very hard in battleground states, or swing states. They have had to do this because the so-called swing voters, those voters who are undecided as of now, are said to be able to affect the outcome of the election.

Well, all their last-minute travels and canvassing will pay off – for at least one of them. Good luck.

Related stories:

From strength to strength

Town Hall format

An Irish goodbye

In the wind

Try-angle

kicking up a fuss about

The coin of the realm

Toy with the idea of

Winner-take-all

Go with the moment

One throat to choke

Miss the boat

Shoe-in

Spotting and eliminating "pork"

All Greek to me

Have sth on the fire

Hard sell

Sold-out house

All bark and no bite

Leave money on the table

Boots on the ground

Jailbreak

Boots on the ground

Common thread

A fact of life

Leave no stone unturned

Train wreck

Keep up with Joneses

Finishing touch

No great shakes

Warts and all

Catch -22 situation

Pull-up trey

I'm sold

Flip-flop

Sit on its hands

Casing the joint

Free rein

Bear the brunt of

Cross one’s path

Tribute projects

Off the beaten track

At the forefront of

Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（張欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.