Mitt Romney, stung by President Barack Obama'spersistent attacks on the Republican challenger's record as a businessman, saidMonday the president should be talking about his own record in the White Houseinstead.
The Obama campaign has hammered at discrepancies about whenRomney departed as chief of the private equity firm Bain Capital that heco-founded in the 1980s. Romney says his business record is his chiefqualification to be president, and it is the source of his vast fortune,estimated at a quarter of a billion dollars.
"What does it say about a president whose record is sopoor that all he can do in this campaign is attack me?" Romney asked in aninterview Monday with Fox News.
In a separate interview with CBS, Obama said he has runmostly positive campaign ads but said those are largely ignored by the media.
In his interview, Romney was asked whether Obama shouldapologize for statements and campaign ads suggesting that Romney has not beentruthful in his accounts of his record as head of Bain.
Romney responded: "I think when people accuse you of acrime, you have every reason to go after them pretty hard, and I'm going tocontinue going after him." He defended his business record but did notdemand that Obama apologize. Romney also declined to make a fuller disclosureof tax returns than he has already committed himself to releasing. He hasreleased a federal tax filing for 2010 and an estimate for 2011.
The latest exchanges came as Obama made campaign appearancesin Ohio, a critical state for both candidates, and Romney was to join LouisianaGov. Bobby Jindal, one possible candidate for his running mate, on afundraising trip.
Ohio is heavily dependent on the auto industry, and Obamawas planning to remind voters of his administration's 2009 bailout of thatindustry, which was near collapse four years ago. The move saved thousands of jobsin Ohio, according to Democrats. Romney opposed Obama's use of massive federalloans to keep Chrysler and General Motors afloat while they reorganized underbankruptcy protection.
Over the past week, a furor has blown up over when exactlyRomney left Bain. He says it was 1999, when he took over management of the 2000Olympic Games. But recently uncovered filings by Bain with the U.S. Securitiesand Exchange Commission list him as holding all the top positions in thecompany as late as 2001.
That becomes important because it shores up the Obama claimsthat in that period Bain closed down some businesses it owned and sent the jobsoverseas.
Romney's campaign said Sunday that Obama was willing to sayanything to win a second term and should apologize for the attacks over BainCapital. "No, we will not apologize," the president responded, addingthat if Romney wants credit for his business leadership, he also needs to takeresponsibility.
Romney's campaign released a new television ad on Sundayasking why the president had stopped talking about hope and change, hissignature message during the 2008 campaign.
The ad began a day after Obama started running one thatshowed Romney singing "America the Beautiful" over images thatrecalled his ties to Bain, U.S. jobs lost overseas and to his personal foreigninvestments.
"If you look at the ads that we do," Obama toldCBS on Monday, "first of all, we've done a whole slew of positive ads thattalk exactly about how we need to change our education system, how we need tochange our tax code, how we need to rebuild America, how we need to promoteAmerican energy."
In fact, about three-fourths of the president's advertisingso far has been critical of Romney.
White House aides said Obama on Monday would cite newsreports suggesting that Romney's plans for limited taxing of overseas profitsby U.S. companies would encourage foreign job growth. The two candidates haverepeatedly accused each other of outsourcing American jobs.
The White House said Obama also will renew his call forextending the Bush-era tax cuts on all households except those earning morethan $250,000 a year. Romney says the wealthiest Americans also should keeptheir tax breaks because they are the most likely people to create jobs.