Romney seen as "too rich for too long"?
(CBS News) WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney hits the road next week on a bus tour of some key battleground states.
And National Journal White House correspondent Major Garrett says it will be the start of a concerted push to change the perception of the presumptive GOP nominee.
Garrett says he just spent days with top advisers to both Romney's campaign and that of President Obama and, "There's one thing the campaigns agree on. Probably only one thing: that Mitt Romney has a problem connecting with middle class Americans.
"Many of (those voters) believe he is a potential turnaround specialist. If you look at the polling data, both campaigns agree, Mitt Romney has an edge over the president (on) who might make the better decisions for the future for the U.S. economy.
"But voters are still holding back, at least the undecided ones," Garrett continued. "And both campaigns agree, one of the reasons they're holding back is they're not sure they want to follow where Mitt Romney is telling them he wants to lead them, because they're not really sure who he is."
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Garrett told "CBS This Morning: Saturday" co-host Rebecca Jarvis that voters want policy positions from candidates, but they also want "a narrative. Who are you? What is your American story? How does it relate to my American story? And the Romney campaign knows that, on that side of the ledger, [his] story and how it relates to your American story, there's a gap.
"One senior Romney adviser (told me) something I think they believe to be fundamentally true: It's not just that mitt Romney is rich, (it's that) he's been too rich for too long. They believe that's now become an embedded perception for some undecided voters. They've got to find a way to more directly humanize Mitt Romney and make his story more connected and more likeable to the average voter."
Garrett says the Romney campaign is going to spend the time leading up to the Republican convention in Tampa telling the public more about Romney: "About who he is, what motivates him and why he would not only be an effective leader, but one for the middle class. ... (The campaign will be) trying to bring home the message that not only is Romney good for the economy generally, but specifically for the middle class. That's terrain that, so far, the Obama campaign tried to dominate."
To see the entire interview, click on the video in the player above.