(Evan Vucci/AP)AKRON, Ohio--For the second day in a row, Mitt Romney offered a more aggressive posture toward President Barack Obama, accusing his Democratic opponent of starting a class war that threatens to "tear America apart."
Speaking to a rally in Bowling Green, Romney accused Obama of putting his re-election ahead of efforts to improve the economy and create jobs.
"His priority is not creating jobs for you," Romney declared. "His priority is keeping his own job. That's why he's going to lose it."
Echoing a speech he delivered outside Pittsburgh Tuesday, Romney took aim at comments Obama made last week in which he emphasized the role government plays in helping create business. He accused Obama of "demonizing" individuals who have been successful, suggesting when the president "denigrates and diminishes the achievement of the individual, he diminishes us all."
But Romney stopped short of a full attack. When an audience member referred to Obama as a "monster," Romney quickly interrupted and said, "That's not a term I would use."
Asked about his vice presidential search by an audience member who insisted he had to pick a "conservative" for the ticket, Romney said he had not yet settled on a running mate.
"Even though I have not chosen the person who will be my vice president, they will be a conservative," Romney said.
Romney largely kept his focus on what he described as Obama's "failed" policies, insisting the president's request for "more time won't make things better." And he repeatedly kept returning to Obama's "You didn't build that" comment, accusing the president of being hostile to business and "success."
"It shows how out of touch he is with the character of America," Romney said, adding that his "demonizing" of success is "something so foreign to us we simply can't understand it."
Romney's Bowling Green rally was the GOP candidate's only public stop in the state Wednesday. He heads to Canton for a fundraiser Wednesday night.