Romney arrives in Florida talking of economy, Gingrich

ORMOND BEACH — Mitt Romney used the backdrop of a lumber yard — and Florida’s status as the epicenter of the national housing industry meltdown — on Sunday to tout his economic experience and tie Newt Gingrich to the nation’s foreclosure crisis.

Romney questioned Gingrich’s rocky leadership tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives and later consulting work for Freddie Mac, the troubled government mortgage agency, during his first Florida rally in the sprint to the state’s Jan. 31 primary.

Mitt Romney arrives in Ormond Beach on his campaign bus

By implicating his rival in the housing meltdown and questioning his ability to provide the leadership necessary to spark sustained job creation, Romney touched on two economic issues central to many Floridians and signaled that the state’s primary could largely be fought over who can be the best job-creator-in-chief.

On that question, Florida presents special opportunities and challenges for the candidates.

As a large state that exemplifies the nation’s economic troubles, Florida is a good test of how broadly a candidate’s views on job creation and economic recovery will resonate.

“We will see an election in Florida that is about the economy and only the economy,” said University of Miami political science professor Christopher Mann. “It won’t have any of localism of both Iowa and New Hampshire where people go door to door. Florida’s too big and it’s not in our political culture and we also don’t place as big an emphasis on social issues.”

But while the candidates jockey over who can best lead a national economic recovery, Florida also presents some special economic concerns.

Issues such as coastal oil drilling, the depth of the state’s housing crisis, strengthening tourism and the large number of retirees concerned not only about Social Security and Medicare but steady leadership that can stabilize the wild stock market gyrations of recent years could all complicate the candidates’ economic messages and present potential pitfalls.

Romney directly confronted Gingrich on the foreclosure issue at the evening rally attended by roughly 500 people in Ormond Beach, south of Jacksonville. The event was his first after Gingrich’s upset win in South Carolina’s primary Saturday.

Wearing blue jeans and a dress shirt, Romney, with his wife Ann at his side, called on his opponent to release his records as a consultant for Freddie Mac.

“What was he doing at Freddie Mac? Because Freddie Mac figures in very prominently in the fact that people in Florida have seen home values go down. It’s time to turn that around!” Romney said to applause.

The issue could be a fruitful line of attack in Florida, Mann said, and Romney plans to push it further Monday, leading a morning roundtable discussion about housing issues in Tampa while two prominent supporters — former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and future Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford — hold a press conference on the Freddie Mac issue sarcastically titled: “Definitely not a lobbyist.”

The attack makes Gingrich “appear like a Washington insider and we have seen the anger Florida Republican primary voters have towards establishment Republicans,” Mann said.

But Romney could also be vulnerable on economic issues because of his tenure running Bain Capital, the private equity firm that has brought criticism from some opponents for dismantling companies and laying off employees, and his waffling over whether to release tax returns.

Romney agreed to release the returns Sunday, but his evasiveness on the issue could raise questions of trust, Mann said.

Romney let his wife do the talking on the tax return issue Sunday.

“I understand Mitt’s going to release his tax forms this week,” Ann Romney said. “I want to remind you of where we know our riches are. Our riches are with our families.”

Romney’s speech was briefly interrupted by protesters, but he quickly dismissed them. He also painted Gingrich as an unpredictable and erratic leader Sunday, citing his years as House speaker.

“At the end of four years it was proven he was a failed leader and he had to resign in disgrace,” Romney said.

In TV interviews Sunday, Gingrich waved off Romney’s talk about his House leadership. And some in the crowd wanted to see more of that type of combativeness in Romney.

New Smyrna Beach retiree Ken Alexander, 64, is still undecided in the race and attended to see if Romney “has that fire in his belly.” He is weighing which candidate can best stabilize the economy and end “the uncertainty of everything that makes it feel like this country is in a tailspin and everything’s stagnant.”

Ultimately, Alexander said he will support the candidate who can best challenge Obama.

“When you fight a snake I want a mongoose,” he said.