E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSWhile stumping in Cincinnati, Ohio, GOP candidate Mitt Romney stressed that his campaign was about 'big things' and promised he was going to bring the 'big changes' that Americans want.
CINCINNATI, OH -- Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said he was the candidate of "big change" at the outset of three-event bus tour of battleground Ohio on Thursday.
Slideshow: On the Trail
The former Massachusetts governor cast President Barack Obama as a figure of the "status quo," and made clear that the Republican ticket represented "big change" by contrast -- repeating that phrase throughout his speech.
"This is a critical time for our country and the choice of paths we chose will have an enormous impact. We have huge challenges," Romney said, ticking off issues ranging from job creation to education. "These challenges are big challenges. This election is therefore a big choice. And America wants to see big changes and we’re gonna bring big changes to get America stronger again.”
Recommended: First Thoughts: Examining Ohio's key counties (and margins)
Romney repeated his mantra of "big change" more than 10 times in his roughly 30 minute remarks, hammering the point home again and again and melding it into his broader critique of Obama.
"The Obama campaign doesn't have a plan," Romney said. "The Obama campaign is slipping because he's talking about smaller and smaller things despite the fact that America has such huge challenges and that this is such an opportunity for America, and that's why on November 6th I'm counting on Ohio to vote for big change!"
Al Behrman / AP
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign stop at Jet Machine, Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012, in Cincinnati.
A senior Romney adviser said that the focus on "big change" would continue in the race's final days.
"Highlighting our campaign's focus on big issues and contrasting that with the smallness of President Obama's campaign will be something we make clear with voters today and through the rest of the campaign," Romney senior adviser Kevin Madden told NBC.
“Here’s the ‘big change’ Mitt Romney is offering: going back to the same failed policies that caused the economic crisis and empowering the extreme voices in his party like Richard Mourdock," Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith said in a statement.
Slideshow: Twin sons of different parties
Romney also continued to highlight how his policies might be better for individual families than Obama's,
Thursday's Deep Dive featured a look at Ohio's key counties and their election histories in 2004 and 2008. Which way will they vote this year? The Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd reports.
"This election is not about me. It’s not about the Republican party. It’s about America. And it’s about your family," Romney said after running through a series of scenarios like caring for an aging relative or getting a good education for a child, and how those experiences would differ under a second Obama term or a Romney presidency.
Related: Obama and Romney project early voting bravado in battleground Ohio
The GOP standard-bearer also launched into an extended riff this morning about how a voter's hypothetical daughter -- a play toward prized women swing voters -- might suffer from Obama's proposals.
Interviews with female voters at Romney's event suggested this strategy could be part of the right prescription to close the gender gap with women in Ohio.
"I don't think that women are any different from any other voters in particular, and I think that what women are concerned about is they have a dual concern," explained Romney supporter Emilia Pater, a homemaker from Cincinnati who attended this morning's rally. "They're concerned about the economy and their families, because most women are caretakers of their families and they are the ones that are looking toward the future and saying what's going to be left for my children?"
Leave a Comment:
Tell us Republicans, which Romney do you favor?
This Mitt Romney ---- "The Arizona immigration policy is a good model" – Mitt Romney.
Or this Mitt Romney ---"I didn't really support the Arizona immigration policy" – Mitt Romney.
This Mitt Romney ---- “The Massachusetts healthcare plan should be a model for the nation” – Mitt Romney.
Or this Mitt Romney ---- “Healthcare reform should be left to the states” – Mitt Romney.
This Mitt Romney ---- "Let Detroit go bankrupt" -Mitt Romney.
Or this Mitt Romney ---- "I'll take a lot of credit for saving the auto industry" -Mitt Romney.
This Mitt Romney ---- “I believe Roe v Wade has gone too far.” – Mitt Romney.
Or this Mitt Romney ----- “Roe v Wade has been the law for 20 years we should sustain and support it.”– Mitt Romney.
This Mitt Romney ---- “I respect and will protect a woman’s right to choose.” – Mitt Romney.
Or this Mitt Romney ----- “I never really called myself pro-choice.” – Mitt Romney.
This Mitt Romney ----- “It was not my desire to go off and serve in Vietnam.” – Mitt Romney.
Or this Mitt Romney ----- “I longed in many respects to actually be in Vietnam and represent our country there.” – Mitt Romney.
This Mitt Romney ----- “I’m not trying to return to Reagan-Bush.” – Mitt Romney.
Or this Mitt Romney ----- “Ronald Reagan is… my hero.” – Mitt Romney.
This Mitt Romney ----- “I think the minimum wage ought to keep pace with inflation.” – Mitt Romney.
Or this Mitt Romney ----- "There’s no question raising the minimum wage excessively causes a loss of jobs.”– Mitt Romney.
This Mitt Romney ----- “I saw my father march with Martin Luther King.” – Mitt Romney.
Or this Mitt Romney ----- “I did not see it with my own eyes.” – Mitt Romney.
This Mitt Romney ----- “I would like to have campaign spending limits.” – Mitt Romney.
Or this Mitt Romney ----- “The American people should be free to advocate for their candidates without burdensome limitations.” – Mitt Romney.
This Mitt Romney ----- “I supported the assault weapon ban.” – Mitt Romney
Or this Mitt Romney ----- "I don’t support any gun control legislation.” – Mitt Romney.
This Mitt Romney ----- “The stimulus that was passed in early 2009 will accelerate the recovery…” –Mitt Romney.
Or this Mitt Romney --- “The stimulus passed in early 2009 has been a failure.” – Mitt Romney.
You missed one: November 6th, 10:30 PM EDST, This is Mitt Romney the defeated Pure White Republican Man who saw all Minority Women as potential house cleaners, and All Women of every color as incubators for a Rapist's Sperm.
Can't we have both Romney's?
I still don't see how a corporate raider knows how to "fix" the Bush disaster with more wars and tax cuts.
Sort of brings the term "Rape and Pillage" into a whole new light.
Romney, Ryan ,Trump ,McConnell ,Cantor, Boehner ,Palin, Bachman, Hannity, Limbaugh, Tea Bags,
Yikes!!
Obama Biden 2012
Women in the home, barefoot, pregnant, sewing new clothes for the children, placing a warm evening meal on the table by 6:00 PM, and not challenging their husbands about late night meetings with other women. Romney and Ryan are hypocrites that believe the rape of a woman is God's Will and a way to create more children. For those women who were legally raped, they now see true responsibility starring them in the face. Get out there and get a job to support your new bastard child. Sorry that your new child has HIV or Aids, sorry that the rapist will not support the child, sorry that Medicare and Wick Child Care are gone, work harder and stop bellyaching. Who are these Radical, Right Wing TEA Party wackos? They are Romney, Mourdock, Ryan, Akin, and all of those other Pure White Republican Men. Women will take this crap just so long, and then they are going to vote!
terry, what are you a troll, we get it you are frustrated sexually. We get it already.
The only change the working class can expect from Romney and his crew is chump change.
What kind of jobs will come to America if Americans are poorly educated and lack the training to compete? Americans are hard workers and willing to put out the effort to achieve a better life for themselves as well as a stronger country for all but they need access to resources that enable their success. Sure, you can create jobs but what sort of jobs do you expect the party that advocates repealing minimum wage laws to create?
You know... it seems to me most of the Romney supporters do not support Romney because they like him, they do it because they hate Obama. Of those people (and I'm just spitballing percentages here), I'd say half hate Obama because of Faux news, a quarter hate him because he's not Republican and a quarter hate him because he started out naive and made some promises he couldn't ever keep while others were broken because Republicans in Congress refuse to compromise.
But, I could be wrong. To be very honest, I like Obama simply because he doesn't come off as a brainless tool that has no idea what he wants, does whatever his backers tell him to and thinks treating a country like a corporation is going to actually work. In short, Obama simply doesn't feel dangerous to me, Romney gives me chills.
Invading Iraq and loosing cost lives and money in a big way. That is a real issue to be pissed about. The O hatred is so bogus. The better O does, the madder they get.
bill clinton killed 1 million iraqis and spent 1 trillion dollars on the containment of sadaam from 1993-2000.
how come you liberal democrats forget about this ?
Tell your employee's that they may not have a job if they don't vote for me
Obama Biden 2012
Attention American Voters: If your employer has threatened you with job loss if you do not vote for Romney, please post the company name and we will help the workers either offer a leveraged buyout of the business or we will help the workers start a competing business nearby. We are already working on a replacement plant for Freeport, IL, and we have no need for Bain Capital funding.
Mr. Romney, and I use that term very loosley. I kow what you did when you worked at BAIN Capital, you were a thief, you stole peoples pensions, don't say you didnot because I know who you did that to, they were my relatives. If you see BIG CHANGE, then you think like BAIN, you will sell AMERICA, short. You are not a good candidate for PRESIDENT, you nor MR. RYAN, Mr. RYAN, your vp already sold AMERICAN down the creek by siging a pledge, not to allow any one in CONGRESS to vote for a bill that would put AMERICANS, back to work. Your PARTNER, did not do his job, he should be FIRED. This is fact not fiction. Oh I forgot you donot believe in facts.
I also resent your 47 % comment, I also resent your remarks about abortion, I resent your remarks about women, and now you change all that, you are the party of change, which is hate. I as a woman, and veteran, will not vote for you, I can count about 400 women that are in groups that I belong to, we have all discussed all the inssues, and we are voting for OBAMA, / BIDEN 2012.
You are not a fit human being, why not leave our country, go to where you have your money stashed.
Lady Jag - Private equity firms invest in struggling or failing companies so that they can hire and grow. The link below is to a video of a great example of the work Bain did at my father-in-law's company in small town WI. Bain gave the company the capital it needed to invest in new technologies, better business practices, and hire new employees.
http: //www. youtube. com/ watch? v=q4PkOfoB4M
(you have to delete all the spaces when you copy link - I couldn't get the link to post right)
The company I work for is also partially owned by a private equity firm that is investing in us with the hopes that we will become a strong and profitable business. Private equity firms make money by making failing businesses work - not by breaking them up and ruining people's lives.
If you think that invest means to break apart and ruin...shouldn't you be worried about all Obama's talk of investing in America???
.
Please explain why the company was "failing" and why local banks couldn't provide needed financing? Bain is not a venture capitalist in the sense of financing new technologies and business models. They aren't the Facebook type. Yes, they do find hidden "value." But too often, that hidden value is worker downsizing, relocation and consolidating. If it was just getting rid of excess management, no one would care. If this wasn't tax advantaged "fake accounting," no one would care.
In a small community like Ripon, WI, there aren't great levels of business resources for new businesses. Poor management or planning can lead to a business not reaching its potential. The video I posted shows how Bain came in and re-trained the management and developed a better business plan. Below is some information on how venture capital and private equity differ:
Company Types: PE firms buy companies across all industries, whereas VCs are focused on technology, bio-tech, and clean-tech.
% Acquired: PE firms almost always buy 100% of a company in an LBO, whereas VCs only acquire a minority stake – less than 50%.
Structure: VC firms use only equity whereas PE firms use a combination of equity and debt.
Stage: PE firms buy mature, public companies whereas VCs invest mostly in early-stage – sometimes pre-revenue – companies
So, you see, they both do similar things but private equity is focused on rebuilding instead of creating from scratch. It's interesting how private equity has been demonized when it saves jobs around the country. The idea that private equity firms only make profits from breaking apart businesses or outsourcing is a little absurd. It is in their best interest to generate profits from their investments, i.e. structing them in a way that they succeed and grow.
If you had a goose that laid golden eggs, would you sell the goose or would you take good care of the goose and sell the eggs?
K. Stu,
TRANSCRIPT: Bain Capital is an investment partnership which was formed to invest in startup companies and ongoing companies, then to take an active hand in managing them and hopefully, five to eight years later, to harvest them at a significant profit…The fund was formed on September 30th of last year. It's been about 10 months then. It was formed with $37 million in invested cash. An additional $50 million or so of what I'll call a call pool, which is money that we can call upon if the deals are large enough that they require more than a $2 or $3 million dollar initial investment. Why in the world did Bain and Company get involved in this kind of a business? We're not particularly noted for having years and years of experience in financing. Three reasons. We recognized that we had the potential to develop a significant and proprietary flow of business opportunities. Secondly, we had concepts and experience which would allow us to identify potential value and hidden value in a particular investment candidate. And third, we had the consulting resources and management skills and management resources to become actively involved in the companies we invested in to help them realize their potential value.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/1985-romney-bain-harvest-firms-profits-video
The fact that Rep. Mourdoch believes that women should be legally forced to endure a pregnancy resultant through a rape because it is "God's gift" is horrifying, but the fact that Mitt Romney publicly and officially endorses him is truly dangerous for every single American citizen.
I will give Romney that he did say that he does not agree with Mourdoch on this issue without jumping ship entirely.
I believe that this is actually the stance of the Republican party, just not the position that Romney actually holds.
Kent, unfortunately Mourdoch, if elected would team up with Ryan and the Personhood Amendment could become law, and be instrumental in SCOTUS appointees. not good. Romney just proved his allegiance by not condemning ideology and pandered once again to the far right wing.
Of course Romney is the candidate of change. The challenger is always the candidate of change. Who would vote for someone who says that they will do exactly what the incumbent candidate is already doing?
He surely is the candidate of Big Change, as in changing positions every day. And could you please stop interviewing the "women who claim they are caretakers of the family." Most women of voting age are not in
traditional nuclear family situations. And society and the country's needs are far greater than the individual family. A "chicken in every pot," is not going to solve the nation's problems. Trying simply to buy off the picket fence crowd does a disservice to the nation as a whole.
Updated as of 1:30pm EST on Thursday, October 25:
Real Clear Politics (RCP) is consistently cited by both FOXNEWS and NBCNEWS as a current source for
reliable averaged polling data at every level of American politics.
RCP continues to consider the following ten states as "toss-up": Florida (FL), Pennsylvania (PA), Ohio (OH), Michigan (MI), Virginia (VA), Colorado (CO), Wisconsin (WI), Iowa IO), Nevada (NV) and New Hampshire (NH). With only 12 days left in the 2012 presidential campaign, Obama leads in seven of the toss-ups and Romney leads in three.
In descending order of 'percentage of lead' in favor of Obama, followed in ascending order of 'percentage of lead' in favor of Romney, here are the published averaged polling numbers from RCP as of 1:30pm EST on Thursday, October 25:
In PA, with 20 electoral votes, Obama's lead has fallen to 4.8%, down from a longstanding lead of 5.0%.
In MI, with 16 electoral votes, Obama's lead has fallen to 4.0%, down from 5.0% for most of the past four weeks.
In NV, with 6 electoral votes, Obama's lead has fallen to 2.7%, down from 2.8% yesterday.
In WI, with 10 electoral votes, Obama's lead is holding at 2.7%.
In OH, with 18 electoral votes, Obama's lead has risen to 2.1%, up from 1.7% yesterday.
In IO, with 6 electoral votes, Obama's lead has fallen to 2.0%, down from 2.4% yesterday.
In NH, with 4 electoral votes, Obama's lead has fallen to 0.8%, down from 1.4% yesterday.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
In CO, with 9 electoral votes, Romney's lead is holding at 0.2%.
In VA, with 13 electoral votes, Romney's lead is 1.4%, up from a longstanding tie.
In FL, with 29 electoral votes, Romney's lead has fallen to 1.7%, down from 1.8% yesterday.
So…
For Obama to win re-election, the easiest route still appears to be through maintaining his existing lead in the five toss-up states where his current margins are widest: PA, MI, NV, WI, and OH. Doing so would bring his electoral vote total on Election Day to 271.
However, should Obama lose the critically important and highly-contested state of OH, the loss could effectively be neutralized by combined victories in IO and NH, while stealing CO where Romney currently leads by 0.2%, resulting in an electoral vote tally of 272.
For Romney to unseat Obama, he not only would have to hold the three states in which he presently leads, FL, VA, and CO, bringing his electoral vote total to 257, but also steal a victory in OH where Obama's lead rose today to is 2.1%. By so doing, Romney's electoral vote total reaches 275.
With only twelve days of campaigning left, this one may come down to the wire…. and to the October jobs report.
Let's hope that Election Day is free of both voter fraud and voter intimidation and that eligible voters who have registered in good faith over the past six months are in fact able to vote on November 6; let's also hope that vote tabulation itself is performed honestly and accurately by both the election commissions and private corporations to whom this essential role is being entrusted.
In any case, it will be interesting to watch as election night unfolds.
Romney=big change? I'll believe it when I see it...and that would be never.
Obuma is running scared and it shows.
He has NOTHING to run on so he constantly bashes Romney.
He should look back to his 2008 campaign description of McCain that now fits him perfectly.
He's a despicable, devious, disgusting, divisive little bl ack worm.
His non stop lectures are about to end!
What a GREAT day that will be!
I guess that is why Obama has been tanking in the polls since his 1st debate and an over capacity crowd of 12,000 people in Denver showed of at Red Rocks Amphitheater to enthusiastically endorse Romney.....don't worry it will be all over soon......just read a poll.............and poll......if Obama is so good....why isn't he leading the polls instead of fading away in them?
If going back to the failed Bush policies is big change, than so be it.
Back in 2009, Brian Williams literally bowed to Barack Obama. Today, he's telling like it is from the Obama campaign trail: the size of the crowds are way down from last time around, and the candidate is not the same man he was in '08.
CHUCK TODD: You know, everybody wants to know crowd size. What was it like? What kind of crowd did they get last night? What have you been seeing? Do you feel like there is enthusiasm on the trail from what you watched?
BRIAN WILLIAMS: What we're doing out here is basically devoting half of our "Rock Center" broadcast tonight to a minute by minute what-it's-like. We asked the Romney campaign for the same access, to do the same thing with them. And one of the points I'm going to make: palpably obvious to you, this is not '08. These are not the crowds, this is not the candidate. He's an incumbent looking for re-election. The country's been through a financial shock. And we're in kind of an outdoor park courtyard. It's hard to say any of this with clarity, with surety. but last time this could have been 50,000 people and today I think we're pushing five. So it's just a different time, a different campaign. They're slugging it out. It really will be hand-to-hand combat in the battlegrounds.
Romney = BIG FAILURE
You have typos...
Here let me help you.
O B A M A--TOTAL FAILURE
No one asked you. I don't need an incompetent's help...
Obama is taking Massachusetts from Romney. WHY...? Because Massachusetts knows this man. They know him better than the rest of the country. If he was so instrumental of a leader in MA why aren't they backing him?
when was the last time massachusetts backed a republican president ? 1916 ?
"BIG CHANGE"
After Romney shifts the burden of taxes onto the middle class completely, that's what you will have left in your pocket after you pay the bill...1 Quarters 1 dime 1 nickle and 3 pennies.
Big changes....he changes his mind constantly, but the biggest change is that he will RUIN our country.
obama is a failed president.
Romney is a failed candidate.
Still having fun, I see...
Romney could produce BIG CHANGES:
Depression era unemployment.
Record Homelessness, more than Reagan even.
Gasoline for $8/gal. in 4 years.
The Fortune 500 Corporations reduced down to the Fortune 50 Conglomerates.
Mass closings of small businesses and layoffs.
Walmart becoming the only game in town for consumers.
National Parks replaced by Gated Communities and Luxury Resorts.
America being the richest 3rd World nation, and best investment for a Chinese Industrialist to become a slumlord.
....
In 2000, we were forcibly raped by the repubs. They said it would be good. It didn't feel right at the time, and a horrible mess came tearing from our bellies. It was painful, but then the spawn went on to bring America to a collapse in 2007. In 2008, we said enough.
We have been killing the little boogers and their spawn, but now we are asked to once again bend over. This time, they will be gentle, and God will give us a wonderful gift if we let them have their way. When the beast is ripping out of your belly, don't say I didn't warn you.
What's going to turn this economy around is confidence. Confidence from Wall Street and confidence from Main Street. Right now Obama has neither thus employment stays stagnant and growth stays stagnant. Businesses are the ones who get people employed and right now they are scared to death in what will come down in the way of taxes and Obamacare. You want jobs to come back and the economy to get going Obama is not the answer, he is the problem. He is NO hope and change, he is the same old politics as usual. And BTW calling Romney a BSer, now that's REAL PRESIDENTIAL.
If Democrats can't win this election with all their negative ads and with almost the entire media of this country behind Obama, that should speak volumes about Obama.
Hey, Paliban. You don't have to sugar coat it!