Romney plans major economic address at Detroit NFL stadium

Barack Obama won't be the only presidential candidate in 2012 looking to fill a football stadium with supporters.

Mitt Romney plans to give a major economic address later this month at Ford Field in Detroit — where the city's NFL franchise, the Lions, play — according to a report from MSNBC. The Republican front-runner, reeling from a trio of tough losses in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado on Tuesday night, is looking to regain his footing by hammering what might be his strongest personal attribute: his business experience.

The president has announced that his convention speech later this year will also be held at a football stadium — that of Charlotte's Carolina Panthers.

And while encouraging jobs numbers in January bode well for President Obama, concerns about the economy remain the most influential issue for voters heading into the 2012 campaign. Romney's speech should lean on his biography of business successes — including his turnaround of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics — to argue that he would be the better steward of the American economy. 

But the speech will likely be as much about political positioning as substance. Romney is looking to soothe conservative concerns about his campaign, and an address on the economy gives him a stronger footing than on social issues, on which he held more liberal views as Massachusetts governor. It also gives Romney an opportunity to hammer home his latest critique of his GOP challengers, painting both Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum as "Washington insiders" willing to borrow more to fund the federal government.

Romney previewed that attack during a speech in Atlanta on Wednesday night, accusing his rivals of "acting like Democrats."

"Republicans spent too much money, borrowed too much money, earmarked too much, and Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich have to be held accountable," said Romney.

"Under Newt Gingrich, earmarks doubled. Rick Santorum was a major earmarker and continues to defend earmarks. Under Rick Santorum he voted to raise the debt ceiling I believe five different times to a tune of about an additional $3.5 trillion," Romney said. "I believe that while Sen. Santorum was serving in Congress and the Senate, government spending increased by some 80 percent."

The speech's location in Michigan is no mistake, either — it is the state where Romney grew up and his father was governor, and provides some of his strongest political ties outside Massachusetts. But with Rick Santorum, who has edged Romney in each of the three Midwestern contests to date, campaigning in the state, Romney is looking to shore up what no longer seems like a certain win.

Romney's address is set for Feb. 24, with Michigan voters headed to the polls just four days later.

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