Romney says he's 'also unemployed'

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) risked looking as though he had a tin ear when telling out-of-work Floridians Thursday that he's also unemployed.

Romney, a Republican presidential candidate and a millionaire many times over, sought to empathize with voters in Tampa facing economic hardship.

"I'm also unemployed," he said, as reported by the New York Times.

And Democrats pounced, calling Romney out-of-touch for his remarks.

“Mitt Romney’s comments today at an event with unemployed Floridians that he’s ‘also unemployed’ is inappropriate and insensitive to the millions of Americans looking for work," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. "This comment shows that Mitt Romney – a man who wants for nothing and whose only occupation for more than four years has been to run for President - is incredibly out of touch with what’s going on in our country and around the dinner tables of those who are out of work."

Romney's made jobs and the economy a central focus of his presidential campaign, and he had been seeking to soothe the Florida voters in a campaign stop there.

But, perhaps mindful of the knock against his campaign in 2008 -- that he was too polished and upper-crust -- Romney's taken strides to appear more in-touch during this bid for the Republican nomination. He's shed ties and driven around Fords to campaign stops, many of which are at diners and more blue-collar backdrops.