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Obama, Romney Camps Focus on Economy


Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan and his mother Betty Ryan Douglas wave to supporters at a campaign rally in The Villages, Fla., Aug. 18, 2012.
Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan and his mother Betty Ryan Douglas wave to supporters at a campaign rally in The Villages, Fla., Aug. 18, 2012.
The campaigns of presumptive U.S. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and U.S. President Barack Obama are both focusing on economic issues during political stumps on Saturday.

Romney's running mate, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, said Republicans would protect older Americans from cuts in Medicare, the government health care program for senior citizens.

He told a crowd of mostly older Americans at a retirement community in the southern state of Florida that both his grandmother and mother had relied on Medicare. Ryan's 78-year-old mother was nearby as he spoke.

On Tuesday, the Romney campaign accused President Obama of taking $716 billion out of a trust fund for Medicare and using it to fund "Obamacare," as critics call the health insurance reform law introduced by the Obama administration and passed by Congress in 2010.

Meanwhile, President Obama will focus on his opponent's budget reduction plans as he courts voters in the northeastern state of New Hampshire on Saturday.

In prepared remarks, Obama says Romney's tax-cutting plan will benefit the wealthiest Americans while raising taxes on middle-class families with children "by an average of $2,000."

He says Romney's proposal is not a plan to create jobs, cut the deficit or move the economy forward.

The Romney campaign is expected to visit New Hampshire Monday.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.

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