(CNN) - Hours after the first presidential debate, Mitt Romney reiterated his pledge to create 12 million jobs in a new television ad released Thursday morning.
"Let me tell you how I will create 12 million jobs when President Obama couldn't," Romney says, looking into the camera.
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The GOP presidential nominee claims his energy plan would reap more than three million new jobs, including jobs in manufacturing.
"My tax reform plan to lower rates for the middle class and for small business creates seven million more," he adds.
Romney says his other economic policies, such as "cracking down on China and improving job training," would push jobs over the 12 million mark.
His campaign first outlined the target number in August, with his advisers predicting Romney's plan would add between .5% and 1% per year in gross domestic product on top of the 2.5% annual growth rate that the Congressional Budget Office currently projects.
The addition of 12 million jobs over just four years would be one of the strongest periods of employment growth in recent history and would require the economy to consistently add 250,000 jobs every 30 days for 48 straight months.
However, as recently as Wednesday night during the Denver debate, Romney faced criticism for failing to name specifics in his economic policies, namely those that involve financial reform, health care reform and deficit reduction.
"America does best when the middle class does best," President Barack Obama said in response to a question on job creation, adding that Romney's plan of tax cuts for the rich had failed before and would fail again now.
Describing the Romney tax plan as a $5 trillion cut, Obama echoed a line from former President Bill Clinton by saying the math doesn't add up without increasing tax revenue, which Romney rejects.
"I think math, common sense and our history shows us that's not a recipe for job growth," Obama said.
The president himself, however, took heat for stating his administration oversaw the creation of 5 million new jobs.
While the Bureau of Labor Statistics confirms that 4.4 million jobs were created, Obama did not say that the nation shed 4.3 million jobs during the early days of his term, and that the net gain since he took the oath of office in January 2009 is just 125,000 jobs.
Romney is expected to push his jobs plan Thursday while he hits the trail with his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, in the crucial battleground of Virginia. The GOP nominee will campaign in Fishersville, Virginia, where they'll be joined by country music star Trace Adkins.
The Romney campaign did not say Thursday where the television ad would run.
- CNN's Ashley Killough, Tom Cohen and CNNMoney's Charles Riley contributed to this report.
It is interesting to hear Mr. Romney talk about job plans, economic plans, etc. As governor he allowed the western part of Massachusetts to fall further in decline. The cities and town in that part of the state did not seem to matter as much as Boston and vicinity. The city of Holyoke was a thriving little city. Now we go forward and see and city that has had its schools taken over by state. If you drove through the area when Mr. Romney was governor you could see the area going downhill. Deval Patrick came in as governor and he has had the task of picking up the piece.
People please don't get carried away by the debate one little bit. The republican platform on which romney/ryan are running have not changed in the least. So once again, people don't get carried away by any debate performance. Stay with the facts. Etch-a-sketch (Mitt Romney) is back in full throttle.
Romney is suddenly for education, for clean energy, for the middle class and not for the rich – he will remove all the tax loopholes and tax the wealthy, he is now for Obamacare, etc. This is ridiculous! while i agree that President Obama should have gone after him on those issues, i also understand why he didn't.
The next presidential debates will be quite interesting to watch because Romney will no longer get a safe passage as he did with this one. Americans should not forget why they have resisted him all along – Bain capital, killing jobs and taking excessive profits, overseas bank accounts, non-release of his tax returns (only recently he released one that took so long, i wonder why, doctored obviously, assault on affordable healthcare, answerable to only special interests and his deep-pocket donors, the list is endless.
Obama/Biden 2012
Let Robney liquidate the government, that will privatize it and make the 1% richer.
Let us not forget 2008, anybody voting should be able to do that.
No oversight on the SEC, the banks liquidity implodes and the banks start making runs on the banks, the "let the business people run business" Republicans could not get a $700 billion dollar government loan to wall street through quick enough. I guess those hypocrites got religion when they saw their personal money evaporate; now they have outside the US.
Am I seeing telepropters in this photo?
It is a republican, they do not use teleprompters. Only insincere people like Obama use teleprompters.
Must be a liberal changing the photo to make Romney look bad. Those UnAmerican communists.
For the Republicans if it gets lower than 8, they have succeeded. Don't recall their outrage when unemployment was half, 4%. To make their world work, you need unemployment .
You lie romney you cant produce 12,000,000 jobs why do you keep lieing about produceing 12,000,000 jobs mitt romney,please show your plan on paper
too the middleclass republican familes???????? no matter what yoi want win ohio and florida and california and wiscosin and iowa
Please Romney help me understand this. Either you are looking at a different maths or your donors are deliberately hoarding jobs hoping that you will win and then release their grip on the job market so that it will seems as if you indeed created the jobs. Otherwise it behoots me how on earth you can shoot out 2k jobs just like that in one year. I wonder why Jim did not have you to explain to the American people . We have not forgotten the Regan/Cater and the Iran Contra issue.Mommy!!! Is this the plan?
Looks like Wicked Willard and the boy wonder are going to get elected.
GOD HELP US.
As long as Mitt keeps spewing the same tired good ole boy tactics and the Gop and all its followers cheer the presidency is his for the taking. But deep down everyone knows he could give a rat's behind about the average Joe and his family he's already made that clear.
Romney's jobs plans!. Outsource mfg and open new Staples. A job is a job right Mitt?
Without details there is no plan.
Romney say he is going to close loop hole in tax code on the top 1% to pay for his spending add billions of $$$$ medicare and military. So that means he is going to raise tax on the 1%. Yes, his big supporters will have their Taxes raised
How will Gov Romney create $12 million jobs? Details please.
We all know that Romney has a BIG mouth , But his ideas suck. He won for being mouthy but lost by his ideas.