Romney ties Obama to Carter

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Mitt Romney on Monday sought to link President Obama to former President Jimmy Carter, calling Obama's administration "the most anti-jobs, anti-investment, anti-growth administration that I've seen since Jimmy Carter."

Romney was the second candidate of the day to yoke the 39th president to the White House's current occupant. Newt Gingrich compared Egypt's planned trial of 19 Americans to the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis that helped destroy Carter's presidency, and hung it around President Obama's neck.

Romney, in his first public event since winning the Nevada caucus, avoided making mention of the Egyptian situation or any other events of the day. He focused his remarks entirely focused on Obama, a sign that he is eager to return to the strategy he pursued before making a series of controversial statements and before the surges of Rick Santorum in Iowa and Gingrich in South Carolina.

Romney also has returned to his earlier strategy of keeping the news media at arm's length. As of Monday afternoon, he had not done a formal press availability since last Tuesday in Florida, and has not spoken to members of the national media since a charter flight last Wednesday.