Romney predicts a win in Wisconsin

Article by: JOHN MCCORMICK , Bloomberg News
Updated: June 18, 2012 - 9:25 PM

The GOP candidate visited another battleground state, where Gov. Walker's recent victory might be a sign for the fall.

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Mitt Romney was introduced Monday by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, as Rep. Paul Ryan, R- Wis., looked on, at the Monterey Mills factory in Janesville.

Photo: Evan Vucci, Associated Press

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JANESVILLE, WIS. - Mitt Romney, expressing confidence while campaigning with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, said Monday that he plans to win the battleground state that Democrats have dominated in recent presidential elections.

"We're going to win Wisconsin, and we're going to get the White House," the presumptive Republican nominee told an audience at a textile factory in Janesville.

Romney is keeping his focus on the economy as he campaigns through contested states, saying he'll promote a climate friendlier to small business, domestic energy production and job creation, while asserting that President Obama has mismanaged the recovery.

"If there's ever been a president who has not been able to provide the American people a fair shot, it's this president," Romney said. "We're going to replace him with someone who will go to work again for you."

Walker, introducing Romney at a Monterey Mills factory, referred to his recent recall election victory.

"It is my honor to still be the 45th governor of the great state of Wisconsin," he said. "And it's my honor to be on stage with the man I hope is the 45th president of these United States."

The Obama campaign called Romney's speech Monday "an exercise in angry and evasive rhetoric."

"He offered no ideas of how to create jobs now or strengthen the economy," campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith said in an e-mailed statement.

Romney was also joined by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the House Budget Committee chairman who endorsed him in March and is often mentioned in media reports as a possible running mate.

Ryan accompanied Romney on the campaign trail for five consecutive days before the April 3 Wisconsin presidential primary.

The congressman is the latest prospective running mate to appear with Romney on the stump during his five-day bus tour.

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a one-time rival for the nomination, and Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio also campaigned with Romney over the weekend.

Romney spent the previous two days visiting small towns in Pennsylvania and Ohio, after starting his six-state tour in New Hampshire on Friday.

He went on to Iowa later Monday, attending a rally in Davenport, where he criticized Obama over the timing of his new immigration initiative, which will allow many illegal immigrants who arrived as children to stay in the country.

"He was going to deal with immigration, he said, in his first year," Romney said. "He was going to focus on that. Did he do anything on immigration while he had a Democratic House and Senate?"

"No," the crowd shouted.

Romney will end the tour Tuesday in his native Michigan.

Obama won all six of the states in 2008, although polling shows Romney competitive in at least some of them. The former private-equity executive is using the trip to try to dispel the notion that he's a wealthy candidate who lacks regular-guy credentials.

The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.

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