Des Moines - As Republican candidates crisscross Iowa seeking last-minute support, the Democratic Party is ignoring the field and focusing on front-runner Mitt Romney.

Today in a Des Moines press conference the DNC turned to a former factory worker who lost his job in the 1990’s to attack what it calls Mitt Romney “job killing record” in the private sector.

Randy Johnson, a former union official at an Indiana paper plant that Bain Capital purchased and then sold after labor discussions broke down in 1995 said of Romney, “I really feel that he didn’t care about the workers.”

Johnson said he’s telling his story now to let voters decide for themselves whether Romney should be president.

Now employed by the United Steelworkers Union in Pittsburgh, Johnson admitted Bain likely acted legally in its dealings with Ampad, but he’s accusing Romney of getting rich at the expense of workers.

“They let Ampad go bankrupt and they made 100 million…tell me there’s nothing wrong with that.”

This is not the first time Johnson’s story has been used as a political weapon against Mitt Romney. In 1994 Democrats used Johnson’s story in television ads attacking Romney during his campaign against then incumbent Sen. Edward Kennedy.

Romney’s 14-year tenure at Bain has been a frequent target of attack from the Obama re-election team and his Republican rivals.

Romney claims during his time at the firm Bain created a net total of 100,000 jobs, but he’s also acknowledged not all of the investments have worked out.

“We invested in over 100 different businesses,” he said last month on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,”  “and in those businesses, many were successful, added lots and lots of jobs. Some were not successful. That is the nature of free enterprise.”

On the campaign trail Romney argues that private sector experience is what’s needed to turn around the economy.

President Obama examines a light unit during a tour of a lab on the Penn State University campus in State College, Pa., Thursday.

From NBC's Scott Foster
STATE COLLEGE, PA -- President Obama came to Penn State University here today to focus on the economy by unveiling a new initiative that would encourage American businesses to invest in building upgrades to reduce their energy consumption.

While the White House has been forced this week to deal with the crisis in Egypt, today's visit to Central Pennsylvania is part of a renewed push by the administration to create clean-energy jobs through investments and innovation.

The president has proposed tax credits for small businesses to invest in new technologies that would cut down energy use.

Here at the university, scientists and engineers backed by $129 million in funds from federal government are working on cutting-edge technology that would reduce energy consumption in both residential and commercial buildings.

The Penn State research program is part of an "Energy Innovation Hub" that aims to reach a 20% reduction in energy use in commercial buildings by 2020.

Obama argued that not only will the program reduce carbon pollution, but it will also create so-called green jobs.

"Making our buildings more energy efficient is one of the fastest, easiest, and cheapest ways to save money and combat pollution and create jobs right here in the United States of America. And that's what we're going to do," he said.

Seeking to drive home his argument, the president explained, "That may not sound too sexy until -- you know energy efficient buildings -- but listen: Our homes and our businesses consume 40% of the energy we use."

The plan builds on last year's "Homestar" program that provided rebates to homeowners to make similar energy-saving improvements.

Today, Obama explained that these incentives will boost manufacturing jobs. He cited several companies, including a window manufacturing plant in Maryland and a lighting company in North Carolina that have expanded their workforce because of similar initiatives.

To pay for the tax credits the administration in its' upcoming budget proposal would eliminate subsidies for oil companies.

"It's time to stop subsidizing yesterday's energy," he said. "It's time to invest in tomorrow's. It's time to win the future."