ROMULUS, Mich. — As Americans grow increasingly anxious about whether the economy is sinking into recession, Mitt Romney may find that just being himself is the best way to campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

The former Massachusetts governor has spent months, and millions, trying to convince voters that he's the true heir to Ronald Reagan and a devout social conservative. For that he's drawn scorn from critics who remember his moderate views a few years ago on matters such as abortion and gay rights.

Romney scored his first big Republican primary victory Tuesday in Michigan largely by emphasizing his background as a successful business executive who knows how to foster innovation, change and prosperity. That may be his best, and most authentic, sales pitch.

"He had tried for months to be Jerry Falwell, when he should have been running as Lee Iacocca," said Dennis Goldford, a professor of politics at Iowa's Drake University. Falwell was the founder of the Moral Majority; Iacocca is an auto industry legend who helped develop the Ford Mustang and rescued the sinking Chrysler Corp. in the 1980s.

In the weeks ahead, the presidential campaign will move into states with potentially big economic problems at a time when financial well-being has vaulted to the top of voters' concerns.

Romney's background includes creating Bain Capital, a successful venture-capital investment firm, and rescuing the scandal-racked 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, where he erased a $379 million operating deficit.

At Bain, Romney notes, his success stories include the Staples office supply chain, which his firm helped get started in 1986. It also aided Domino's Pizza, Brookstone and Sports Authority. Today, Bain itself has about 2,000 employees worldwide, and Romney is worth several hundred million dollars.

His history, though, also could subject him to new scrutiny.

Massachusetts AFL-CIO legislative director Tim Sullivan brands Romney a "vulture capitalist" who invested in firms that cut jobs and closed plants. Romney argues that his ability to help companies created jobs.

His tenure as Massachusetts governor from 2003 until last January left behind a lot of unimpressed people, including former Republican Gov. Jane Swift.

"Mitt Romney has a reputation of saying anything to win. A comparison of his record versus his rhetoric on the economy shows why," said Swift, who was pushed aside in 2002 so that Romney could run and now backs Arizona Sen. John McCain's White House bid.