'Outsourcer-in-Chief' Mudslinging Picks Up

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- In an attempt to steer criticism away from a questionable record on outsourcing jobs, Mitt Romney slammed the president on Tuesday for his own overseas antics.

Barack Obama hasn't led a Fortune 500 company, but Romney cited stimulus and renewable energy contracts as a kind of stealth outsourcing.

"This president has been outsourcing a good deal of American jobs himself by putting money into energy companies, solar and wind energy companies that end up making their products outside the United States," Romney said Tuesday to a crowd in Grand Junction, Colo. Romney, who Obama had dubbed an "outsourcer-in-chief," said that title would be a better fit for the president.

The attacks come after the Obama campaign had smacked the Republican nominee in a swing state ad that claimed Romney made a fortune helping companies outsource manufacturing to China.

Obama's camp started the outsourcing cries in early June as it appeared to have taken a page from John Kerry's failed 2004 campaign strategy against then-President George W. Bush.

Though poor U.S. economic indicators and an uncharacteristic Obama gaffe initially derailed the outsourcing attack, it reemerged in early July and has reportedly widened the president's slight lead in battleground states.

The question remains though about whether the outsourcing debate will play a pivotal role in November or if overall economic health and other issues that affect voters' finances will crowd out the issue.

-- Written by Joe Deaux in New York.

>Contact by Email.

Follow @JoeDeaux