President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney brought their campaigns to the battleground state of Virginia Thursday.

The president addressed a crowd in Virginia Beach, where he discussed the importance of growing the middle class.

"We succeed when the middle class gets bigger, when there are ladders of opportunity for all who strive to get into the middle class, when everybody who's willing to work hard has the chance to get ahead and live up to their God-given potential," Obama said.

Romney spoke at an event in Springfield, where he criticized the president's handling of the economy.

"China's been growing much faster than we, Russia is growing faster than we," Romney said. "Our economy needs to be reinvigorated. And the president has laid out his plan. It's a continuation of the old plan. We can't afford four more years of the last four years."

It was the third straight day that Obama and Romney held campaign events in the same state.