Romney pushes momentum, housing recovery at Nevada rally

Mitt Romney looked to project confidence with the wind in his campaign's sails Wednesday during a stop in Reno, Nev., that attracted some 2,500 supporters in the crucial swing state.

With less than weeks to Election Day, Romney told supporters that the presidential debates "have really propelled our campaign."

"At the same time, in some respects, they've diminished the president's campaign, and he's been reduced to talking about Sesame Street characters and word games," Romney said.

The Republican nominee sprinkled frequent references to an eventual Republican victory into his standard stump speech, bringing the boisterous crowd to its feet.

Discussing the president's signature healthcare law, Romney said "the people of America will elect me to repeal ObamaCare and replace it with real healthcare reform."

"If I'm elected — no, when I'm elected — we're going to replace ObamaCare," Romney continued. "We're going to take that $716 billion back in Medicare and put it back where it belongs."

Romney also argued that the president lacked an economic vision for his second term and that voters would punish him at the polls.

"The president doesn't have a plan for this economy. I do, and that's why I'm going to win," Romney said.

The bold predictions dovetailed well with a push by his campaign aides and surrogates to depict the Republican front-runner as having the momentum as the race heads to a likely photo finish. But the Obama campaign has aggressively pushed back against that narrative, saying it feels confident about its standing in a number of swing states — including Nevada, where the president continues to lead at the polls.

In a statement issued later Wednesday, Obama spokeswoman Lis Smith pivoted her response on Romney's rally to an attempt to hang on Romney controversial comments about Republican U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mourdock.

“Mitt Romney spent a lot of time today talking about what a different path he’d take us down if he were elected," Smith said. "And he’s right: while President Obama wants to continue moving us forward in a second term, Romney would take us back to the foreign policy of the 1980’s, the social policy of the 1950’s, and the economic policy of the 1920’s. For proof of that, we don’t have to look any further than Romney’s continued support for Richard Mourdock, whose comments that pregnancies resulting from rape are ‘something God intended’ highlight how far Republicans, including Romney, are willing to go to roll back women’s health care options. If Romney can’t stand up to these extreme voices now, we know he wouldn’t be able to if elected.”

In addition to his attempt to project confidence, Romney looked to score points on the housing market — a major concern of many Nevadans, a state that saw some of the biggest losses in home value during the recession.

Romney said that with the president, "the values of your homes continue to bump along in the basement," but that if elected, "we're going to finally get this housing market going again."

The Republican nominee added that the coming vote was "a defining election not just about the big things that are discussed in political circles but the important things that happen in your home."

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