{mosads}Instead, Romney blasted the president’s economic record, noting a
study heavily circulated by his campaign that showed nearly half of
recent college graduates were either without jobs or underemployed.

“Unacceptable.
Unthinkable. This president has failed on the No. 1 measure he
said was important for Americans: good jobs,” Romney said.

The pair seemed to capture the partisan crowd and at times riffed off one each other.

Speaking
of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, Rubio said the Canadians had a
choice between routing valuable oil through either the United States or
China.

“Which direction do you think the president will chose? China. Which
direction do you think Mitt Romney will chose? America,” Rubio said.

That
prompted Romney to say that — in a self-admitted “moment of rhetorical
flourish” — he wanted to build the pipeline with his own bare hands.

Rubio and Romney showed off a similar rapport on voter
identification laws, with the pair trading stories about why they
believed the controversial legislation was necessary for states to
adopt. Rubio joked about needing to use I.D. to purchase an exercise
bike — “My wife said I was looking a little senatorial,” he quipped —
while Romney told a story about machine politics and voter fraud in
Boston.

The Florida lawmaker also previewed how he might work as an attack
dog on behalf of the Romney campaign, using his personal history as the
son of Cuban immigrants to question the president’s economic policies.

Rubio said Obama is “telling Americans that the reason that why
they’re struggling is other people are doing well” and that the
president believed “the way up the ladder is pulling other people down.”

“He doesn’t know what he’s doing,” Rubio said of the president.