DENVER, Colo. - President Obama's campaign today shot down claims by the opposition that Mitt Romney is picking up momentum in key battleground states, saying the GOP nominee will have to "pull voters off the president to win."

Speaking to reporters traveling with the president in Iowa today, Obama advisor David Plouffe said Romney's recent boost in the polls shows he has regained lost ground but that he is approaching his "ceiling."

Beaming with confidence, Plouffe said the Romney camp is "overstating their Electoral College situation."

"Both of our campaigns are telling you where we think the race is and in 13 days one of us will be right and one of us will be wrong," he said. "My sense is you're going to find that what was emanating out of Boston was more bluff than reality."

While Plouffe declined to make any projections, he was certain "we maintain a lot more plausible pathways to 270 [electoral votes] than Gov. Romney."

"Our strategic view has always been to develop a campaign strategy where you don't have to win all of them," he said of battleground states. "Our goal this time has always been to have enough states in play so that we wouldn't have to pull an inside straight to win the presidency, and we still think that's where Gov. Romney is - that he has a much more narrow path."

For example, Plouffe said, "Gov. Romney's campaign likes to talk about how well they're doing in North Carolina, but we think we're doing a lot better in Ohio and Iowa and Nevada than they're doing in North Carolina."

As the president kicked off a 48-hour blitz in Iowa this morning, Romney campaigned in Nevada for the second day in a row.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Gov. Romney's last trip to Nevada was this week, because it doesn't look good for him, and I think in an honest moment they would say that themselves," Plouffe said.

Plouffe drew further attention to Romney's travel schedule this week, saying it suggested his campaign is "very concerned about Ohio" and perhaps not as confident about Florida and Virginia as it is suggesting.

"If they feel so good about Florida, then pull out," he said.

Obama is visiting eight states during his two-day marathon swing. In a last ditch effort to sway undecided voters, the president has been touting signs of economic progress and portraying Romney as untrustworthy by highlighting his shifting positions in the run-up to the election.

"It's about trust," Plouffe said. "You have never seen a major party nominee this close to the election try to fudge what he would do as president."