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Stump Speeches On The Trail: Mitt Romney

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

All this week, we're taking time to listen to the candidates' speeches on the campaign trail. Yesterday, we heard from some of President Obama's stump speech in Iowa and, today, we'll hear from Mitt Romney.

Last night in Chillicothe, Ohio, the Republican delivered a passionate address. He said President Obama's policies are making the country's problems worse.

MITT ROMNEY: For the first time, most Americans believe that our best days are behind us. This is an election in which we should be talking about the path ahead, but you don't hear any answers coming from President Obama's reelection campaign. That's because he's intellectually exhausted, out of ideas and out of energy and so his campaign has resorted to diversions and distractions, to demagoguing and defaming others. It's an old game in politics.

What's different this year is that the president is taking things to a new low. It wasn't supposed to be this way. His was the campaign of hope and change. He was the candidate who was going to bring a new era to American politics. In 2008, candidate Obama said this, quote, "if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare voters." He also said this: If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. And then he said this: You make a big election about small things. That was candidate Obama describing the strategy that is now the heart of his campaign.

His campaign and his surrogates have made wild and reckless accusations that disgrace the office of the presidency.

(APPLAUSE)

ROMNEY: Another outrageous charge just came a few hours ago in Virginia and the White House sinks a little bit lower. This is what an angry and desperate presidency looks like. President Obama knows better, promised better and America deserves better.

(APPLAUSE)

ROMNEY: Over the last four years, this president has pushed Republicans and Democrats about as far apart as they can go and now he and his allies are pushing us all even further apart by dividing us into groups. He demonizes some. He panders to others. His campaign strategy is to smash America apart and then try to cobble together 51 percent of the pieces. If an American president wins that way, we would all lose, but he won't win that way.

(APPLAUSE)

BLOCK: That's Mitt Romney last night at a rally in Chillicothe, Ohio. Tomorrow and Friday, we'll hear stump speeches from his running mate, Paul Ryan, and the man trying to hold onto the title of vice president, Joe Biden.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

This is NPR. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.