Led by President Barack Obama, Democrats claimed on Wednesday that Republican challenger Mitt Romney privately backs controversial plans to overhaul Medicare and cut trillions from social programs that his new vice presidential running mate has publicly proposed.

President Barack Obama made his rival's personal millions a front-and-center issue in the race for the White House on Wednesday, telling a swing-state audience that Mitt Romney "is asking you to pay more so that people like him can get a big tax cut."

President Barack Obama is warning Florida retirees that Republican challenger Mitt Romney would undercut the new health care law and alter Medicare, a play for voters in one of the nation's top swing states.

President Barack Obama says Mitt Romney and Republicans are set to make seniors pay thousands more for Medicare so the rich can get still more tax cuts.

President Barack Obama's campaign and the Democratic party raised $71 million in June, well below the $106 million hauled in by rival Mitt Romney and the Republican party during the same period.

Fighting for re-election, President Barack Obama is playing down his historic health care overhaul and the multibillion-dollar recession-fighting stimulus two landmark efforts of his first three years in office. Those signature policies are unpopular, and voters clearly want the candidates to focus instead on jobs.

President Barack Obama declared Friday that "the private sector is doing fine," drawing instant criticism from Republicans who said it showed a lack of understanding of the nation's economic woes. GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney responded, "Is he really that out of touch?"

Mitt Romney out raised President Barack Obama in May, the first time the Republican presidential challenger has jumped ahead of Obama and his prodigious fundraising apparatus. The numbers illustrate how Romney and the Republican Party have jelled as a force after a protracted GOP primary.