Mitt Romney promised Thursday that his
economic program will create 12 million new jobs in the next four years, and
likened President Barack Obama to a "dog trying to chase its tail"
when it comes to strengthening the sluggish recovery.
Firing back instantly, Obama said his rival
favors "trickle-down fairy dust" that has failed to fix the economy
in the past, and unleashed a new television ad with a scathing summation of
Romney's tax plans: "He pays less. You pay more."
The two men campaigned in battleground
states hundreds of miles apart, the incumbent in Florida, his challenger in
Colorado, both on a mission to convert undecided voters to their side in a race
dominated by the economy and high joblessness.
Nor was there any summer lull in the
television ad wars. Americans For Prosperity, an independent group that backs
Romney, intends to launch a $25 million ad campaign beginning next week,
according to officials familiar with the arrangements. The organization was
founded by David and Charles Koch, billionaire brothers, and has spent about
$15 million in swing states this year on ads attacking Obama.
For Romney, the day meant a return to
domestic campaigning after a weeklong overseas trip. Aides say he intends to
disclose a vice presidential pick before the Republican National Convention
opens on Aug. 27 in Tampa, Fla., but the former Massachusetts governor told
reporters: "I've got nothing to give you" by way of information on
his decision.
Instead, he unveiled what aides called
Romney's plan for more jobs and more take-home pay, backed by an eight-page
paper arguing that the economic stimulus and other policies backed by Obama
"exacerbated the economy's structural problems and weakened the recovery ...
At the present rate of job creation, the nation will never return to full
employment," it said, on the eve of the release of the government's
official report on July joblessness.
Friday's jobs report, Obama planned to use
the backdrop of the White House and surround himself with families who would
benefit from the election year middle-class tax cut he's pushing Congress to
adopt. "As dysfunctional as Washington can be, this fight is far from
hopeless," White House senior adviser David Plouffe said in an email.
In remarks in Golden, Colo., Romney said
his economic policies would lead to creation of 12 million jobs in the four
years of his term, if he is elected, and help make North America energy
independent, a pledge that aides said included Canada and Mexico as well as the
United States.
Romney pledged expanded international
trade, particularly with Latin America, and vowed to confront China over its
own policies. "I'm finally going to sit down with the Chinese and they're
going to understand that if they cheat there are going to be consequences,
because we're not going to let them walk all over us," the former
Massachusetts governor said.
He said he would help small business
owners, improve the education system and cut spending to reduce the deficit,
but he offered relatively few specifics.
Romney previously has said he wants to
extend the tax cuts due to expire on Dec. 31 and grant a new 20 percent cut in
tax rates, in addition, to stimulate growth. He has also said he will reverse
some of Obama's proposed defense cuts, and simultaneously reduce spending on
other programs in a way that deficits would gradually subside.
But he so far has refused to identify which
existing tax breaks he would curtail to accomplish his goals, and generally
avoided naming individual programs he wants to cut or eliminate.
In his remarks during the day, Romney said
he wants federal education funds that aid the disadvantaged and disabled to be
tied to the student rather than flow to school districts, as is now the case.
But he did not specify how much he would cut from them to achieve his goal of
reducing federal deficits.
He also criticized Obama for signing
legislation that cut $500 billion from Medicare over a decade. Aides said he
would restore the funding, which was reduced as part of the president's health
care bill. But they had no additional details.
Romney said Democrats have a different
view. "They think we should just raise taxes. ...The problem is when you
raise taxes you lower growth," he said.
Obama's approach is "like a dog trying
to chase its tail, you just don't ever get there," he added. "So the
right answer is not to raise taxes. The right answer is to cut taxes and cut
spending."
Obama and other Democrats support extending
existing tax cuts except for individuals making more than $200,000 a year and
couples with incomes over $250,000—and their disagreement with Romney and the
Republicans on this point has emerged as arguably the most fundamental one of
the campaign.
It's an argument that Obama seems eager to
have—using campaign appearances and paid television advertising to do so.
For the second day in a row, Obama cited a
study by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center that says Romney and other
millionaires would receive a tax cut of approximately $250,000 a year if the
former Massachusetts governor gets his way.
"This analysis also found that if Gov.
Romney wants to keep his word" about reducing deficits, "the average
middle-class family with children would be stuck with a tax increase of more
than $2,000," he added.
The president's new campaign ad was
delivering the same highly personalized message. It says Romney has paid a
lower proportion of his income in taxes than many people of lesser means and
adds:
"He pays less, you pay more," the
ad says.
Romney's personal wealth has been estimated
as high as $250 million, but he has not so far made public a detailed
disclosure of his holdings. His aides have sought to dismiss the report as a
partisan attack by former aides to the president.
But Obama, picking up on what his own
campaign staff said Wednesday, told an audience near Orlando, Fla., that the
Tax Policy Center was headed by a former aide to President George W. Bush.
Romney, too, rolled out a new ad, giving a
less-than-warm welcome to Obama on a day Air Force One touched down in Florida.
It notes that the state still suffers from high unemployment, record home
foreclosures and an increase in poverty.
"Barack Obama: What a
disappointment," it says.
The president's stop in Florida reflected
his campaign's efforts to build support among Hispanic voters, particularly
Puerto Ricans. He was greeted on the tarmac of Orlando International Airport by
Kenneth McClintock, the lieutenant governor of Puerto Rico and Alejandro
Garcia-Padilla, a state senator in Puerto Rico.
Romney, meanwhile, appeared with a group of
Republican governors at an event near Aspen, Colo., some of them mentioned as
potential running mates. That teased speculation about Romney's vice
presidential pick, as some of the attendees—New Jersey's Chris Christie,
Louisiana's Bobby Jindal, South Carolina's Nikki Haley and Virginia's Bob
McDonnell—have been mentioned as possible Romney running mates.
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