Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is criticizing President Barack Obama's handling of the national debt in Iowa, a Midwestern battleground he hasn't visited since the state's leadoff nominating caucuses.

One by one, five Republican candidates for president took the stage Tuesday in the state that holds the first presidential contest to pitch themselves as the strongest to challenge Democratic President Barack Obama on voters' top issue: jobs.

The Republicans looking to unseat President Barack Obama want to explain to voters in this early nominating state how they would bring back the nation's crumbling manufacturing core and rebuild the struggling U.S. economy.

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry said Thursday the health care bill GOP rival Mitt Romney enacted in Massachusetts paved the way for President Barack Obama's federal health law last year and cost the state jobs.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is telling The Associated Press that both his economic record and his experience leading a large growing state sets him apart from his Republican presidential rivals.