Obama, Romney push economic messages

GOLDEN, Colo. -- Returning to his economic message, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney claimed that his economic plan would generate 12 million jobs in four years, though he offered no details on how. In Florida, President Barack Obama jabbed that Romney was offering nothing but "trickle-down tax cut fairy dust."

With Romney back on American soil after a weeklong overseas trip, the presidential rivals engaged in a back-and-forth on the economy in battleground states for the first time in weeks, a reminder of the No. 1 issue before voters. Romney has made the economy the main impetus for his White House campaign, and unfurled a report card giving Obama poor marks on job creation, foreclosures and incomes.

"His policies have not worked. They have not gotten America back to work again. My policies will work," Romney told hundreds of supporters gathered in the Denver area.

The jousting came ahead of today's monthly jobs report, an important barometer for the economy. Economists forecast that U.S. employers added 100,000 jobs in July. That would be slightly better than the 75,000-a-month average from April through June but still below the healthy 226,000 average in the first three months of the year.

With the tax issue dominating the debate, Obama has tried to cast Romney as a promoter of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans -- he is one of them -- at the expense of popular tax breaks for typical families. For the second straight day, Obama turned to a study by economists at the Tax Policy Center and the Brookings Institution, which said Romney's plan would raise taxes by more than $2,000 a year for an average family with children.

"They have tried to sell us this trickle-down tax cut fairy dust before," Obama said in Winter Park, Fla., outside Orlando. "And guess what? It didn't work then and it won't work now."

To emphasize the point, Obama's campaign released a new TV ad going after Romney for paying about 14 percent of his 2010 income in taxes. "He pays less, you pay more," the ad says.

Romney's campaign has dismissed the report, challenging its impartiality and methodology. Eric Fehrnstrom, a senior Romney adviser, called the report "a joke."

Romney also had a new spot, timed to the president's Florida appearance and calling him a "disappointment" because Florida's economic picture hasn't improved under his watch.

Romney also vowed to make North America energy independent in eight years, saying he would emphasize drilling on public lands, coal production and the completion of an oil pipeline, but again, did not offer any other specifics.