Oddball day on campaign trail

Associated Press

FREMONT, Calif.

Stunts, stagecraft, scripts — and a touch of the surreal — shaped the presidential campaign Thursday as Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama sought an edge on voters’ No. 1 issue, the economy.

On one coast, Romney made a surprise trip to the former California headquarters of solar-panel manufacturer Solyndra to accuse Obama of currying favor with campaign supporters by giving a federal loan to the green-energy company that later went bankrupt.

“This half-a-billion-dollar taxpayer investment represents a serious conflict of interest on the part of the president and his team,” the Republican presidential candidate said as he stood outside the shuttered company and held it up as Exhibit A of presidential missteps on the economy.

He offered no proof of his claim during a visit that was shrouded in a highly unusual amount of secrecy because, aides said, the campaign feared Obama would interfere with his Republican rival’s plans to appear there.

At roughly the same time across the country in Boston, Obama’s campaign staged its own event outside Massachusetts’ Statehouse to argue that Romney’s record as governor from 2003 to 2007 proves he is ill-prepared to manage the nation’s economy.

“Romney economics didn’t work then, and it won’t work now,” Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod said at a news conference, pointing to a poor record of job creation, increased fees and the addition of $2.6 billion to the state’s debt on Romney’s watch.

Axelrod’s appearance attracted several dozen Romney supporters, including many who protested loudly by chanting “Where are the jobs?” and holding signs that said “Obama isn’t working.”

The competing events, complete with rival Web videos and frenzied backers, made for an oddball day on the campaign trail and showed the degree to which Obama and Romney’s teams are trying to undercut each other’s economic credentials during the nation’s slow-moving recovery, easily the top issue for voters.

The jockeying also came one day before today’s May employment report, which will offer the latest window into the nation’s economy.