Romney to Obama: It’s your economy now

That approach is similar to the one outlined in the GOP budget proposal sponsored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). But Romney said that on Medicare, the government insurance program for seniors, he would have a different plan than Ryan’s, although he offered few details.

“No one in my party has proposed any change for those programs for anybody who’s retired or who’s near retirement,” Romney said. “The question is, what are we going to promise people in their 20s, 30s and 40s? And the answer is, let’s tell them the truth.”

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Republican Mitt Romney says President Barack Obama has failed the United States and is pitching himself as an alternative who can fix the nation's ailing economy. (June 2)

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Romney only briefly addressed Obama’s health-care overhaul law or the similar Massachusetts plan he signed as governor that is a liability in his campaign, restating his desire to repeal the new law signed by the president in 2009.

But when asked about the new federal law’s coming guarantee that people with preexisting conditions cannot be denied coverage, he said that was one area where the federal government should play a role.

“There are some things I want to make sure we do at the federal level, and one is relating to preexisting conditions,” he said. “I would propose at the federal level we say that, if an individual had been continuously covered for some period of time, that they can’t be denied ongoing coverage because they developed what’s known as a preexisting condition. That’s something I say is just fair in dealing with insurance.”

Fielding his first question, Romney was asked whether he believed the science that suggests global warming. He said he did. “I believe the world’s getting warmer,” Romney said. “I can’t prove that, but I believe based on what I read that the world’s getting warmer, and I believe that humans contribute to that.”

Romney dismissed a cap-and-trade policy, saying it would put American companies at a competitive disadvantage in the world. Any solution, he said, would have to be international in scope. “We don’t call it America warming,” he said. “We call it global warming.”

Romney added that, if elected, he would encourage more domestic oil drilling and spur the development of alternative energy sources, such as natural gas and nuclear energy.

“We can’t just say it’s going to be all solar and wind,” Romney said. “I love solar and wind. But they don’t drive cars. And we’re not going to all drive Chevy Volts.”

For the second day in a row, Romney’s wife, Ann, introduced him to a New Hampshire audience. “We’re in it to win it,” Ann Romney declared. She said the 2008 campaign was a “tough process,” but that she had “pushed Mitt into this” a second time because she worries about the future their grandchildren might face.

“Sweetie,” she told her husband, “it’s up to you.”