BOSTON — Republican Mitt Romney, who last week struggled with his responses to a major foreign policy crisis in the Middle East, will turn his focus back to the economy with a new offensive aimed at recharging a campaign that even some allies believe he is losing.
The Obama campaign, also sobered by the violent deaths of U.S. diplomats in Libya, seems willing to join Romney in a debate about the economy instead.
Where are they going? Follow President Obama, Mitt Romney, their running mates and spouses on the campaign trail
More from PostPolitics
THE FIX | The White House isn't backing down on the IRS or Benghazi. At least not yet.
FACT CHECKER | As more information is disclosed, the factual gaps in Lois Lerner’s statements become clearer.
Can Congress productively legislate and conduct oversight investigations of a sitting president at the same time? This week will be the test.
The GOP nominee, in speeches and television advertisements this week, will roll out more details about his plans to help the middle class by creating jobs, cutting the deficit and developing more domestic energy resources, advisers said. The specifics are designed to give voters a clearer sense of what Romney would do as president.
Both candidates were pushed off message in the wake of the Middle East turmoil that roiled the campaign last week. Obama was forced to defend his administration’s handling of the crisis as Romney sharply criticized it. But Romney did not appear to make up any ground politically, and some Republican allies criticized him for too quickly politicizing the moment.
The Republican blowback to Romney’s handling of the Libya crisis follows widespread disappointment in the party that the campaign flubbed his nominating convention in Tampa by not delivering a coherent message or presenting the nominee’s agenda in concrete terms.
One top donor to the Romney campaign said that the convention did not present Republicans as successful and that the messaging at the Democratic convention in Charlotte was much stronger and more effective. Several donors said they did not understand why Romney adopted such an abrasive tone in his acceptance speech, instead of dispassionately making a case for his candidacy.
On Sunday night, the campaign was dealing with more fallout from the convention after Politico published a story describing a campaign operation in disarray, with many accusatory fingers pointed at chief strategist Stuart Stevens, particularly for the perceived failings of the convention speech.
Romney is determined to reshape a congealing narrative that he has fallen behind Obama and will spend the next 21 / 2 weeks before the first presidential debate articulating more-concrete details of his five-step economic plan, according to campaign advisers.
The strategy shift indicates that the Romney campaign is heeding the advice of senior Republicans, who for weeks have publicly urged the Romney operation to combine its indictments of Obama’s record with a stronger rationale for a Romney presidency.
“I think people are waiting to get a little more information, and the key for us is to make sure that voters know why voting for Romney will result in a change and an improved economy,” Ed Gillespie, a senior adviser to Romney, said in an interview. “We’re going to keep pounding away on a future-oriented campaign about why the next four years will be better under Mitt Romney than under President Obama.”
The Romney campaign has prepared a series of ads, to air in battleground states, arguing that Romney’s plan would create 12 million jobs. Aides said the ads will highlight his trade policies to crack down on China, his plans to help small businesses grow and his specific plan to cut the spiraling federal deficit.
The Post Most: PoliticsMost-viewed stories, videos and galleries int he past two hours
Loading...
Comments