Mitt, McCain intensify fight

LAND O' LAKES, Fla. — With Florida's GOP primary looming on Tuesday, the competition between front-runners Mitt Romney and John McCain intensified Saturday as Romney continued to push his economic plan while McCain went back to talking about Iraq.

In his quest to get Florida's 57 Republican delegates, Romney took his "Economic Turnaround" tour to three businesses and a living room to explain how he wants to get the economy back on track. Meanwhile McCain, a U.S. senator from Arizona, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee also held events in the state.

McCain, a Vietnam veteran and former prisoner of war playing to his military experience, accused Romney of wanting to withdraw troops from Iraq — which Romney immediately denied.

McCain said, "If we surrender and wave a white flag, like Senator Clinton wants to do, and withdraw, as Governor Romney wanted to do, then there will be chaos, genocide, and the cost of American blood and treasure would be dramatically higher."

Romney called McCain's statement "dishonest" and asked for an apology.

"It's fine for him to express his view on different topics, and I know he's trying desperately to change the topic from the economy and trying to get back to Iraq. But to say something that's not accurate is simply wrong, and he knows better," Romney said, standing on the lawn of the Guenette family's home in Land O' Lakes.

In a discussion staged by the campaign, Romney sat down in the Guenettes' living room to talk about how his economic plan would help middle-class families. Lenny and Marcy Guenette have two sons, ages 9 and 5, and two daughters, ages 10 and 7. Lenny Guenette works for a computer hardware company and Marcy Guenette works part time at home doing legal transcription. They make a combined income of $90,000 a year and are currently renting their house, the campaign said.

The couple said rising gas prices have forced them to cut back on savings, including putting money into college funds for their children. Romney said that if elected, his idea of eliminating taxes on savings for those making under $200,000 a year would help them. Romney also used the opportunity to continue to push for innovation, saying newer, more fuel-efficient and electric cars coming out of Michigan could help lower their gas bills in the future.

Romney won the Michigan primary earlier this month, also by focusing on the economy and saying he wanted to rejuvenate the state's auto industry. Romney used Saturday's sit-down to discuss the housing market, health-care costs and retirement plans.