Obama suggests Romney is out of touch with America

 MIAMI (AP) - United States (US) President Barack Obama cast Mr Mitt Romney on Thursday as an out-of-touch challenger for the White House, while the Republican countered that the US economy "is bumping along the bottom" under the current administration.

The two men crisscrossed hotly contested Florida, their travel plans nearly overlapping in Miami. Florida is one of a handful of battleground states with large Hispanic populations that are expected to decide the close race for the White House. The president is not chosen by a nationwide popular vote but in state-by-state contests, making these states especially important.

Mr Romney worked to move past the furor over a video showing him telling donors last May that nearly half of Americans see themselves as victims entitled to government handouts, and that as a candidate, his job wasn't to worry about them. But Mr Obama made his most extensive comments to date on the subject, seizing the chance to make the most of a controversy that has knocked his rival off stride.

"When you express an attitude that half the country considers itself victims, that somehow they want to be dependent on government, my thinking is maybe you haven't gotten around a lot," the president said at a town hall-style forum aired by the Spanish-language television network Univision.