Romney presses harder on personal attacks

WASHINGTON -- Republican Mitt Romney dug in yesterday on his charge that President Barack Obama's campaign is driven by "division and attack and hatred," aiming to cut into Obama's likeability and personal appeal with voters.

In some of his harshest words yet, Romney said Obama was "running just to hang onto power, and I think he would do anything in his power" to remain in office.

Romney's comments escalated an already acrimonious campaign fueled by negative and sometimes false advertisements, as well as personal insults from the candidates and their surrogates.

Obama's campaign said Romney's fresh assertions seemed "unhinged." The president, campaigning yesterday in Iowa, did not respond directly to Romney's criticism.

But first lady Michelle Obama, who joined the president on the final leg of his three-day bus trip through the Midwestern battleground, offered a vigorous defense of her husband's character as she introduced him to the crowd.

"It all boils down to who you are and what you stand for," Obama said. "We all know who my husband is, don't we? And we all know what he stands for."

The president sought to refocus the day's debate on GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan's proposed Medicare overhaul, which Democrats hope will give them an opening with senior citizen voters.

Romney and Ryan have been aggressive on that issue, saying Obama raided more than $700 billion from the Medicare trust fund to help pay for his health care overhaul.

Obama said Romney and Ryan's criticism was "dishonest." "They are just throwing everything at the wall to see if this sticks," Obama said. "I have strengthened Medicare."

The latest rhetorical scuffle erupted Tuesday after Vice President Joe Biden told a largely black audience in Danville, Va., that Republicans would seek to "unchain Wall Street" and "put y'all back in chains" by loosening financial regulations.

Biden said later he had meant to use the term "unshackled." But he did not apologize, and he mocked the Romney campaign for showing outrage.

Yesterday on "CBS This Morning," Romney said: "I can't speak for anybody else, but I can say that I think the comments of the vice president were one more example of a divisive effort to keep from talking about the issues."