Daily News - Mitt Romney to Visit NoHo Mall to Discuss Economy

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Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney was expected to renew his criticism of President Barack Obama's handling of the economy during a campaign appearance in North Hollywood this afternoon.

The former Massachusetts governor recently accused Obama of having "the audacity of indifference" to Americans suffering during the economic downturn. The phrase is a play on the title of Obama's 2006 book "The Audacity of Hope."

"President Obama has failed us," Romney wrote last week to the Concord (N.H.) Monitor in response to an editorial. "Three years into his four-year term, 20 million Americans are out of work, have given up or are underemployed in part-time jobs.

"Home values continue to go down. Foreclosures are at near-record levels. Our national debt is skyrocketing -- President Obama is on course to add as much debt by the end of his term as all the former presidents combined. The president has made the recession worse and he made the recovery worse."

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democrat, blasted Romney in a morning conference call with reporters on behalf of the Democratic National Committee.

"The fact that Mr. Romney is using L.A., and I emphasize 'using' L.A., to blast what he sees as the president's failed economic policies I find appalling," Villaraigosa said. "Unfortunately, like much of the country, we're dealing with high unemployment rates, but we need to be putting people back to work, not just pointing the finger and playing the blame game."

The mayor went on to criticize Romney's record as governor of Massachusetts, when Villaraigosa said that state was 47th in the nation in job creation.

City Councilman Paul Krekorian, a Democrat, planned to hold a rebuttal news conference in North Hollywood after Romney's visit.

To revive the economy, Romney has called for cutting government spending; repealing "Obamacare," lowering taxes on businesses; placing a hard cap on the impact that federal regulations can have on the economy; and pushing aggressively for advantageous new trade agreements.

Obama and Democrats in Congress support what the Democratic National Committee describes as a "Made in America" economic plan intended to strengthen American industries and create jobs by ending tax loopholes that let corporations hide profits overseas and investing those dollars in small businesses that create jobs in America; providing tax cuts to small businesses and expanding lending so businesses can create new jobs; investing in a clean- energy economy; and providing tax credits to spark manufacturing of windmills, solar panels and electric cars; and rebuilding roads, bridges, rails and ports.

Meanwhile, the Romney campaign announced today that it had received the endorsement of Rep. John Campbell, R-Irvine.

"President Obama has taken the country in the wrong direction -- his policies have made job creation more difficult and have exploded the national debt," Campbell said. "Mitt Romney has a proven job creation record and he is the right man to lead our country toward economic recovery."

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