WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney will begin to engage voters more directly and offer more specifics on policy after his formal entry in the race for the GOP presidential nomination today, his advisers say.
The former Massachusetts governor is expected to focus on jobs and the economy in his kickoff announcement at a farm in New Hampshire. He will hold his first town hall of the campaign tomorrow, also in New Hampshire, a state that is vital to his chances of winning the nomination.
After a lengthy precampaign buildup that has been light on public events — and even lighter on policy proposals — Romney’s strategists are promising specific plans to curb spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Those plans, they say, will be rolled out in the coming weeks or months.
“He will have detailed proposals on the economy, and with respect to entitlement reform,’’ said Eric Fehrnstrom, a Romney campaign adviser. “The right time for him to put those forward is after he becomes a formal candidate — and ideally around the time when people are paying attention more closely. Those will be coming.’’
Romney is expected to deliver a forceful speech this afternoon, criticizing Obama’s handling of the economy, touting his own business background, and calling for strict limits on government spending. He has previously called for capping federal spending at 20 percent of gross domestic product. Democrats, meanwhile, are poised to continue focusing most of their attacks on Romney, with plans for conference calls and the release of a video tagging him as a wishy-washy politician.
The slow-to-start 2012 GOP primary contest has benefited Romney. Because of his high name recognition, ties to the GOP establishment, and a large early-state campaign network, he has been able to avoid the busy public schedules of some of his lesser-known rivals.
He also has largely avoided taking firm positions on many of the major topics of the day, including the controversial House GOP plan to partially privatize Medicare. His most significant policy statement so far was the one he delivered in Ann Arbor, Mich., last month, when he defended his Massachusetts health care law while promising to repeal President Obama’s health care overhaul if he were elected.
Now, he will face greater pressure to fill in the blanks. As a full-fledged candidate, for instance, Romney is expected to join others in the shifting GOP field in a debate in New Hampshire on June 13, the first opportunity for his opponents to zero in on the nominal front-runner.
