"In some respects, Michigan is like the canary in the mine shaft: What Michigan is experiencing, the whole nation will experience unless we fix what's happening in Michigan and learn lessons here we can apply across the nation," he said in Traverse City amid a flyaround of the state.
Romney's criticism of Washington was a none-too-subtle shot at McCain, who has said that some of Michigan's lost jobs are gone forever. The Arizona senator defended his comment during a raucous rally before 400 supporters in Warren.
"I had to give some straight talk," McCain said. "Jobs are leaving the state of Michigan. They have left and will not come back, but we're going to create jobs, we're going to create a new economy. This is the smartest technological place in America. We have the smartest people here. We can do it. We can create jobs here."
Later, aboard his campaign bus, McCain continued his criticism of Romney.
"Governor Romney says he supports the industry yet when he was running for the governor of another state he wanted to raise the tax on SUVs," McCain said.
Romney, sitting later in the home of an unemployed woman in Marshall, responded by criticizing McCain for supporting an increase in fuel-efficiency standards, something Michigan automakers have resisted.
"I was the governor of Massachusetts, and Massachusetts is not the state that is propelling the Michigan economy," he said. "Senator McCain was a US senator, who has responsibility for the well-being of the entire country. . . . Senator McCain has watched as Michigan has suffered."
Aides distributed campaign literature from Romney's 2002 race for governor in Massachusetts, in which Romney proposed a 10-year sales tax moratorium on hybrid vehicles, as well as reworking the vehicle excise tax to encourage the purchase of fuel-efficient cars.
McCain also mentioned a Detroit News headline yesterday: "Experts Back Up McCain's Jobs Claim."
