Stumping in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney slammed President Barack Obama’s energy policies. Romney said Obama is for "all the sources of energy that come from above the ground — wind and solar. He just doesn’t like the things that come from below the ground," the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported.
"That's the course he’s on," Romney said according to the article written by Salena Zito. "The course I’ll put us on is to take advantage of what comes from above the ground as well as what comes from below the ground, so that America can finally become energy secure and independent of the oil cartel."
The White House disputed the assertion and told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that the president continues to focus on expanding domestic energy production, "including oil and natural gas, nuclear power, renewable energy sources like wind and solar, as well as clean coal."
Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, New York, and Rhode Island all hold presidential primaries today. Regardless, Romney has been the all-but-confirmed GOP nominee since the withdrawal of former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, and he has been using his time to take the battle to Obama.
"The great equalizer between the candidates is energy prices," Dave Paleologos, director of Suffolk University Political Research Center in Boston, told the Tribune-Review. "Polling shows the higher energy prices go, the better for Romney."
He added that Romney's message on coal puts Obama’s team "on the defense in a state they shouldn’t have to defend, which means they are spending resources, time and money there when they should be focusing on Ohio, Nevada, and Florida."
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