VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- As Mitt Romney and aides attacked President Obama over gloomy new economic statistics, Obama touted a new campaign theme Thursday: A 'new economic patriotism."
It's "an economic patriotism that growing our economy begins with growing a strong middle class," Obama told supporters at an outdoor amphitheater near the Virginia coast.
It's also the theme of a new Obama ad airing in battleground states, including Virginia.
Aides to Romney -- who also campaigned in the swing state of Virginia on Thursday -- cited a new government report saying the economy grew at a only 1.3% in the second quarter, and that manufacturing orders are down.
"Our economy needs to be reinvigorated," Romney said. "And the president has laid out his plan -- it's a continuation of the old plan. We can't afford four more years of the last four years."
Both campaigns are making a big target of Virginia, which went Republican in ten straight presidential elections -- until 2008, when Obama became the first Democrat since Lyndon Johnson in 1964 to win the commonwealth.
As he has throughout his re-election campaign, Obama told about 7,000 backers in Virginia Beach that he inherited an economy that had collapsed before he took office. He said it will take "years" to recover from the economic meltdown, but that his policies -- including the stimulus, the health care law, and new financial regulations -- are having a positive effect.
"We've got all we need to succeed," Obama said.
Meanwhile, the president said that Romney's plans -- more tax cuts for the wealthy, fewer regulations on business -- will return the economy to the conditions that preceded the 2008 meltdown. "It didn't work then, and it won't work now," Obama said of Romney's "top down economics."
As Romney, speaking at an American Legion post in Springfield, bashed Obama over possible military cuts, Obama also made an appeal to veterans in this military-oriented state -- and also took a swipe at Romney's statement that the president starts out with 47% of the vote because of people who either receive government benefits or pay no taxes.
Many military voters are retirees who receive Social Security, and don't necessarily pay income tax.
Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said 1.3% growth and unemployment above 8% are proof that "the Obama economy is officially stuck in neutral ... It's clear our nation's job creators and manufacturers can't afford another four years like the last four years."
