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SALT LAKE CITY -- Former governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney announced on Monday that he would unveil a jobs plan in Nevada -- a state that is plagued with an increasing unemployment rate.
Following an appearance on Fox News with Neil Cavuto, Romney tweeted that he would be announcing his plan in Nevada on Sept. 6, two months earlier than when President Barack Obama is expected to announce his plan to improve unemployment rates and increase job creation.
Romney consistently refers to his 25 years of experience in the private sector, mostly with Bain Capital where he managed one of the nation's largest private equity firms out of Boston, as the experience necessary to understand the complex issues affecting the economy. He has sharply criticized President Obama on his lack of experience and his ability to rebound a failed economy.
"President Obama and I could not be more different. He spent his life in politics, I spent my life as a businessperson," Romney told Cavuto. "I know what it takes to get jobs back in this country. I understand how the economy works, and I want to use that skill to get Americans back to work and to get America, once again, on a ramp to remain as it has always been: the most powerful economic engine in the world."
Since announcing his bid for the White House, Romney has kept his focus on a single target: President Obama and the creation of jobs. Rarely has he attacked the other GOP contenders. Even in the two televised Republican debates, Romney has stayed above the inner-party battle and has remained unscathed, left to attack the incumbent president.
"I believe in America. I fundamentally believe the American people are about to say that the Obama experiment has failed," Romney said on Fox News. "And as they recognize that, the president is going to come out with a new economic plan. But look, we've seen the results of his last economic plan; it's been an abject failure. They're going to reject President Obama. We're going to get back on track -- restore the greatness that is America."
Romney has not given any details on what his jobs plan would look like, but addressing one of the biggest issues of the 2012 campaign in the state with the highest unemployment rate has the Republican front-runner in a prime position to unveil his plan. As of the most recent unemployment data in July, Nevada currently has a 12.9 percent unemployment rate, which is the highest in the nation.
Although little has been said about Romney's plan, it is expected that he will compose an economic plan that involves more "job creators" or small businesses and corporations to get the American engine moving forward by enabling the private sector to create jobs as taxes remain low.
"Right now we need more job creators," Romney said. "The last thing I want to do is take money from entrepreneurs and innovators and small business people. When I go across the country and sit down with various small business folks, they tell me this has been the most anti-business, anti- investment, anti-growth administration they have ever seen. They have pulled back."
But as Cavuto pointed out to Romney, people like billionaire Warren Buffet have recently said the rich should pay more in taxes, with the claim being that those individuals in a higher tax bracket receive more benefits than the individuals in the middle class who can't afford to pay taxes, especially without a stable job to rely on.
"We need jobs right now," Romney said. "And the president and Warren and other people are saying ‘oh, just give us some money from rich people.' Look, people don't want a check, they want a job. And what I want is to get Americans back to work."
Romney added, "If you raise taxes on corporations, you raise taxes on people."
How he intends to get Americans back to work is yet to be determined. Romney, who won over a significant margin of caucus-goers in 2008 in the Silver State, has made at least four visits to Nevada this year as he hopes to attract more members of the Republican caucus. In his last visit to Nevada in June, Romney brought a message about the economy, filming an influential campaign commercial called "Bump in the Road," where he attacked President Obama on his inability to improve the economy and to create jobs.
No other Republican candidate, other than Texas Rep. Ron Paul, has made an appearance in Nevada.
Email: jfurlong@ksl.com
