Romney Took McCain's Words for a Spin

"The great vulnerability of Romney that's taking hold across the nation is that he will say anything to get himself elected," Salter said. "This will be one more item to add to the list for Romney's strategic plan to tell voters whatever the polls tell him to say."

Democratic White House hopefuls have responded to job anxieties with specific and pricey pledges to secure immediate, one-time tax cuts, extend unemployment insurance, address the subprime housing crisis, and send billions of federal dollars to the states to stave off counterproductive state and local program cuts or tax increases. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee on Monday trotted out more general pledges to negotiate with subprime mortgage lenders and prime the economy with government spending on defense industries, infrastructure and energy technologies.

Romney responded not so much with a program but with an image: of Mr. Fix-It.

"The governor has been on a message for a while now that the key to this election is that Washington is broken, and it's got to be fixed," said Ron Kaufman, a senior adviser. "And the key to that message turned out to be in Michigan. Michigan became a very good place for the governor to say, 'This is what my presidency is all about. Look at the problems in Michigan. Washington is not only not fixing it. It's made it worse.' "

Romney supporters now hope the same economic anxieties that made Michigan Republicans responsive to that message will surface throughout a nation already feeling the leading edge of an economic slowdown.

McCain aides said their candidate would stick to his message on the economy and avoid short-term fixes, no matter how appealing they may be on the campaign trail.

"We have no cause to be discouraged or to second guess what we might have done differently," McCain told supporters last night. "We did what we always try to do: We went to Michigan and told people the truth. I am as committed now as I have ever been to making sure that no state, whether it's Michigan or South Carolina or anywhere in this blessed country, is left behind in the global economy. But that global economy is here to stay, and it is, by its nature, constantly changing. To compete more successfully in it, we must better prepare American workers and students to seize its opportunities."