Romney and Obama campaign trade barbs over debt

NASHUA, N.H. - Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney and President Obama's re-election campaign traded barbs Monday over the prospect that the congressional super committee will fail to resolve the nation's debt crisis. Romney blamed the president's lack of leadership while an Obama spokesman accused Romney of pandering to tea party voters.

In a campaign appearance here, Romney said, "What's most disappointing about (the super committee's stalemate) is that our president has had no involvement in the process. ... I would have anticipated that the president of the United States would have spent every day, and many nights, working with members of the super committee to try to find ways to bridge the gap, but instead he's been out doing other things, campaigning and blaming and traveling. This is, in my view, inexcusable."

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In a statement, Obama campaign Press Secretary Ben LaBolt, said Romney's opposition to tax increases to balance the budget is a political ploy for tea party support. "This is one more indication that Mitt Romney is more interested in getting a perfect score on the tea party's litmus test than he is in putting country before party to do what's necessary to create jobs and reduce the deficit," the statement said. "Romney won't ask millionaires and billionaires for a dime to get our finances back on track -- he would instead give them additional tax cuts and force the middle class and seniors to bear the entire burden of deficit reduction."

Also on Monday, Romney appeared with Rep. Charlie Bass, who gave the former Massachusetts governor his endorsement. Romney praised Bass as a House member who "has stood up for the traditional New Hampshire principles of limited taxation and smaller government."

"I will work for you day and day out to win this election over the coming months," Bass said at a Romney campaign appearance at BAE Systems, a major New Hampshire employer.