CLEVELAND – Campaign 2012 packed frantic suspense to the finish, with Vice President Joe Biden flying in unannounced next to Republican Mitt Romney's campaign plane in battleground Ohio on Tuesday even as voters across the country were deciding who would win the White House.

President Barack Obama stayed in hometown Chicago, reaching out to swing-state voters on the phones and via satellite while the other three men on the rival tickets had a high noon face-off near the shore of Lake Erie.

Romney and running mate Paul Ryan had scheduled the stop together just Monday, and Biden's plane arrived between the two to play defense in the state that's critical to the victory plan for both sides. The vice president rolled off the tarmac without comment to the surprised media traveling on his plane, just as Ryan's charter was pulling in for a landing.