Romney: Debates will set record straight

DENVER — Mitt Romney is set to kick off the most important stretch of his presidential campaign, a time when he said he will use his three debates with President Obama to set the record straight on his vision for the country and to stump more vigorously in swing states.

The Republican nominee spent the weekend huddled with advisers and with Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who has been playing Obama in mock debate sessions.

Graphic

Follow President Obama, Mitt Romney, their running mates and spouses on the campaign trail
Click Here to View Full Graphic Story

Follow President Obama, Mitt Romney, their running mates and spouses on the campaign trail

More from PostPolitics

NSA head: Surveillance helped thwart more than 50 terror plots

NSA head: Surveillance helped thwart more than 50 terror plots

Alexander lays out new details about how the surveillance efforts helped thwart terror events.

Boehner: No immigration bill without majority GOP support

Boehner: No immigration bill without majority GOP support

The speaker apparently seeks to stave off a threatened rules change by a renegade group of his colleagues.

Why Joe Biden is talking about guns

Why Joe Biden is talking about guns

THE FIX | Why is the vice president is talking about guns? Four reasons taken together could explain it.

Read more

Romney said the debates, the first of which is Oct. 3, will give him a chance to push back against what he said were distortions by the Obama campaign on the auto bailout, his record on abortion and tax rates for the middle class.

“I think what we can do is have a chance for people to see our respective positions and our pathways forward. I think the president will not be able to continue to mischaracterize my pathway and so I’ll be able to describe mine, he will describe his and people will make a choice,” he said on his campaign plane, with Portman by his side. “That’s the great thing about democracy. I’m not going to try and fool people into thinking he believes things he doesn’t. He’s trying to fool people into thinking that I think things I don’t. And that ends, I think, during the debates.”

Romney has faced criticism from fellow Republicans who have said his campaign needs an overhaul and a clearer message.

He is set to tour Ohio this week with his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.). Polls in key swing states show Romney trailing Obama — in Colorado, where Romney held a rally Sunday evening, he trails Obama among likely voters 50 percent to 45 percent.

“I know in the coming six weeks they’re very unlikely to remain where they are today,” he said. “I’ll either go up or I’ll go down. It’s unlikely that we’ll just stay the same.”

Loading...

Comments

Add your comment
 
Read what others are saying About Badges