CONCORD, N.H. â€" Tens of millions of people are expected to tune into President Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night. But Mitt Romney doesn't plan on being one of them.
“Haven't watched so far. Don't plan on it,†Mr. Romney said at a surprise visit here with a group of veterans.
Mr. Romney's appearance was his only public event during an otherwise quiet day spent preparing for the coming debates and traveling back to his home in Wolfeboro, N.H.
His motorcade pulled off the highway here at around 2:30 p.m. and showed up unannounced as a Veterans for Romney chapter was holding a news conference for the local news media.
Mr. Romney used the occasion to get out ahead of the president's speech and attack his record over the last three and a half years in office. What the president will not say tonight, Mr. Romney said, is how he broke his promises to the American people.
“There are forgotten promises and forgotten people,†he said, standing just outside the state Capitol. “Over the last four years, the president has said he was going to create jobs for the American people, and that hasn't happened. He said he would cut the deficit in half, and that hasn't happened. He said that incomes would rise. And instead incomes have gone down.â€
As he was walking back toward his waiting S.U.V., Mr. Romney conceded that he would “love to watch,†but only if Mr. Obama made no new promises.
“If it's another series of new promises that he's not going to keep, I have no interest in seeing him because I saw the promises last time,†Mr. Romney said. “Those are promises he did not keep , and the American people deserve to know why he did not keep his promises.â€
