Port St. Lucie, Florida (CNN) - Mitt Romney used a well-received debate performance to power his way through a three-day swing this weekend in Florida, where audiences seemed newly energized after his perceived victory over President Barack Obama.
Speaking to large crowds in St. Petersburg, Apopka and Port St. Lucie, Romney opened up his stump speeches by recapping his match-up against the president.
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"We had a little debate earlier this week and I enjoyed myself," Romney told a roaring audience of roughly 10,000 in Port St. Lucie Sunday afternoon.
"You all had the chance to hear his answers - or his non-answers," he continued. "Now of course, days later we are hearing his excuses, and next January we'll be watching him leave the White House for the last time."
Another new staple of his stump speech: the stories of three Americans whose deaths touched Romney. The candidate spent time each day telling audiences about helping write a will for a 14-year-old with leukemia, as well as the death of a disabled friend.
"I know something about great human beings in this country," he said. "It's that that gives me the confidence that our future will be so bright, because I've seen how Americans respond to challenge, and even to tragedy."
On Monday Romney will give a foreign policy speech in Virginia, where he is expected to criticize Obama's handling of tumult in the Middle East.
"I commit to you I will be a leader," Romney told his supporters in Port St. Lucie Sunday. "When I'm president I will take the care that it takes to rebuild our principles and restore the principles that made America so strong."
Ann Romney also worked to humanize her husband when she introduced him Sunday.
The candidate's wife said the debate gave Americans a chance to see Romney "as I see him: a good and decent person, that throughout his life has exhibited his care for others. And now we're going to get a chance for him to really care for others because we're going to have the chance to see him get people back to work again."
From CNN Politics
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Don't get your hopes up Romney It isn't April for April fool jokes but it is time for HOLLOWEEN TRICKS.You are no even considered a possibility in Florida!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Will America throw away four years of careful stewardship of a post recessionary economy for 90 minutes of lie-filled bluster from a hopped-up-on-something Mitt Romney? If they do, the tax increases to the middle class, the voucherization of Medicare, the tax break to the very rich and the high cost of health care will be all on them. I voted for John McCain in 2008, and President Obama is getting my vote in 2012 because he was dealt the worse hand possible after eight years of Republican rule and he's turned this thing around. President Obama has earned this independent's vote.
Good luck wearing magic underwear.
I feel sorry tor all those millionaires that Romney lied to saying he was going to give them a BIG tax break and how about all the tea partiers and conservatives that voted for him in the primaries-he threw them under the bus and LIED to them about how he was a SEVERE CONSERVATIVE -NO Mitt is JUST A LIAR-to EVERYONE andyou want to trust this guy to be President????
totally sickening from seeing this willard and to hear his stupid voice on the phone, if he could hear me, lucky that it is a robocall only.
Debate for Romney is easy. He doesn't need to defend his past positions. He just ignores them. Why defend your past positions when you can change them whenever you feel like it?
On the other hand, it is wise for Romney to ignore his past positions, if he can get away with it, because they are pretty much indefensible. Remember his comment about the 47% of people who don't pay income tax? What is funny is that his position about the comment has also changed. Before the debate, he said that his words were inelegant, but he stood behind what he said. Now he says that he is completely wrong about the 47%. Which Romney do you believe?
Our family thought Romney was rude and disrespectful during the debate. My daughter's high school government class agreed. I wondered what was wrong with Romney? He kept interrupting, wanting to butt in and hog the show. My family does not agree with his views. My son thought he had simply memorized his lines.
Romney probably told his buddies he has to change his tune to win, but he will change back IF elected.
He's definitely a "behind closed doors kind of person". ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Romney should be ashamed to keep walking around talking about he won the debate when he took a cheat sheet out of his pocket while walking up to the podium. Unfortunately cameras catch everything and I wish someone would make light of it because he cheated his way through that debate.
Dubben
Don't gloat Romney, you didn't win on your own arguments or merits.
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I would suggest he didn't "win" at all. No one can win a debate based on "well, I was going the severely conservative route, but as it turns out, I'm actually going to try the liberal stance now and see how those voters tally up for me".
IF:
No one gets sick
There are no Hurricanes or strong Tropical storms
There are no Earthquakes
There are no Forest Fires
Everyone 60 years old retres
Everyone 18 and older works
Foreign countries all fall in Love with Mitt
Corporations all hire the maximum people needed (not just the minimum)
THEN:
Romney's plans MIGHT sort of work.
ELSE:
"If some of Romney’s proposed individual income tax cuts were revenue-neutral (he has said that they would be, but has not specified what “base-broadening” adjustments he would make to the tax code to accomplish that), his plans would instead lead to employment losses of 608,000 in 2013 and roughly 1.3 million in 2014. The weaker job growth and outright job losses under the Romney plan are driven by his proposal to cap government spending at 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), a move that implies very large cuts to overall spending." ------
- i.e., 2 Million jobs lost in 2013 and 2014.
It is The Economy, Mr. President. Your Economy, Mr. President. You built that.
Romney beat Obama in every way during the debate. The more interesting part is the tactic of blame and defect that the Obama administration continues to use as it has throughout Obama's term. I have to ask; Will Obama ever be held accountable for poor performance by liberals?
Dear Lord – save us all from this charlaton. I've never in my life seen anyone lie with such a straight face. I have no doubt President Obama will be focused like a laser in the next debate. He's got so much ammunition on his side. Obama/Biden 2012.
Romney is the biggest political coward I've ever seen in a national election. He will say anything for the group of people he's in front of... and he doesn't believe any of it. I think he actually doesn't HAVE any views other than that he really, really, really doesn't want to pay taxes. And that's all he believes in. He's taken every side of every issue. It's no wonder Obama had trouble debating him - when you debate someone, you have to argue your ideas against their ideas. But Romney has no ideas - he just changes them on a whim. And then, like a sociopath, he expects people to believe the NEW thing he says when he gets caught in a lie. "Oh, I didn't mean that 47% thing I said when I didn't know you guys were listening... believe what I say in public, not what I say amongst my closest friends." He really expects us to buy that garbage?
I used to think Mormons were really nice people... but Romney has no conscience, no heart, and doesn't hesitate to lie, cheat, and try to get around supporting this country (what patriot hides their cash in the Caymans?!) All that good work Donnie & Marie did is going down the tubes with Romney as the new Mormon spokesperson...
You can smell the desperation from the liberals. Turning on each other, lashing out at their chosen one. The liberals strategy of calling Romney a liar just exposes how weak their arguments and "plans" are.
Granted Mitty was on fire during the debate, but the guy has no positions, once he started lying thru his teeth, brazenly. It is highly conceivable, yet, that BHO could have immediately reset his button and landed crippling counter-punches, so his lies could have been exposed threadbare. It will be intriguing to see which Willard will show up in the next debate. Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde? The guess is anybody's.
"I commit to you I will be a leader," Romney told his supporters in Port St. Lucie Sunday. "When I'm president I will take the care that it takes to rebuild our principles and restore the principles that made America so strong."
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What the heck does that mean.
Something interesting seems to be going on here. The Obama team is way too clever to have really allowed all of this to happen. President Obama seemed to deliberately not challenge Romney on Bain, 47%, texes, etc. so that Romney could not diffuse them with rehearsed, sugary, canned "zingers".. Now with all of the fact checking and time to run several ads showing Romney's contradictions and flip-flopping, they can really confront him at the next three debates. The stage is set for some really good strategies. If American voters are really swayed by ninety minutes of rehearsed showmanship over substance, then they deserve what they get.
wow all you guys so far off... You voted mc cain and now obama? crazy obama may be the worst president of all time and in a second term will bring this country as far left as possible. Get a job and understand what is happening
Forget the debate. One man DID build that. The other is destroying it.
it's a shame that a fast talking salesman romney can dupe so many listeners who i must conclude do not have the full picture or a reasonable fram of reference. it was therefore very nice that the improved job numbers came out on the heel of the debate negating most things romney said which were a lie to begin with.
Romney is not fit. Think about this......he change his mind so many times. What well happen went he gets the 3am call. Is he going to delcare war or not. If he does just think he might want to change his mind. We don't need some one like this in the office. You never know what you going to get.............
The truth is Obama's kryptonite. He doesn't have the strength to mis-lead this country when faced with the truth and a person wh might challenge him on his answer. You see, President Obama knows he is lying to the country.
The president and the liberal media have spent 18 months misrepresenting (lying about) Romney';s position on the issues.Romney didn't have any of those as his own goals. Now that Romney made it clear that the Libs have been fibbing about him, they are ticked that their own claims are not believed.