'A woman who. ...': Mitt Romney's stories court females

"She was born in Mexico, speaks Spanish fluently and English," Romney said. So she found a job where fluency in two languages was necessary. Today, he said: "She translates construction manuals from English into Spanish." It's "just remarkable."

WOMAN WHO RUNS A TRUCK COMPANY

Then there's the highly accomplished woman whose job — running "a very substantial trucking company" — speaks to her toughness.

"She described how she would purchase trucks year after year" and how she employs men and women alike to drive the big rigs, Romney said. She is waiting, however, to buy new equipment; she is uncertain how many new regulations or taxes Democrats might force upon her in the coming months and prefers to wait to purchase big-ticket items until a Republican is in the White House.

"She runs the place with a very strong hand. A very successful hand," he says.

WOMAN WHO IS GOING BACK TO COLLEGE

A frequent story of Romney's is the one about the young woman he says he met in Cleveland who had just graduated from college but is going back to earn another undergraduate degree. The reason: She's struggling to make ends meet and doesn't have to start repaying her $40,000 student loan if she's still in school.

For now, Romney says, "she can't find a job so she's doing three part-time jobs." But he says she's heading back to college as soon as her loan payments begin.

"She doesn't know how they're going to make it," Romney said. "She's having a hard time."

WOMAN WHO OWNS DUPLEXES

Sometimes, Romney tells the tale of an older woman he says he met in Appleton, Wis., who sells perfume in a department store. She and her husband didn't plan to still be working.

"They had expected to retire but the duplexes they bought — they had two duplexes — their values had become so depressed," Romney says.

He likens her to a number of other older women he's met who are finding the retirement years not as great as they'd expected.

"They're employed but they can't make ends meet the way they hoped," says Romney.