Immigration, Trade Focus of US Presidential Campaign

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is returning his campaign focus to the economy and other domestic issues.

Romney spoke Monday at a meeting of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Los Angeles.  He said he will work with both parties to enact what he called permanent immigration reform. The Republican challenger accused President Barack Obama of playing politics by enacting a temporary measure that exempts deportation for immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children.

The Republicans and Romney are trying to build support among Hispanics, a group that President Obama won in 2008.

Obama used a campaign stop in the key state of Ohio Monday to accuse China of unfairly subsidizing its auto industry. He said the Chinese government's subsidies harm thousands of automobile industry workers in central U.S. states.

The Romney campaign is set to release a series of television ads to air in several key states highlighting his plans to create 12 million jobs and reduce the huge federal government deficit.  

The Republican challenger is hoping to recover from harsh criticism last week over his response to anti-U.S. protests in Egypt and the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya, which left the U.S. ambassador and three other American diplomatic staffers dead.  

Obama enjoys an edge over the former Massachusetts governor in the latest nationwide polling of likely voters.  But because state-by-state results (which decide electoral votes) - and not a national popular vote - will choose the next president, several states have become particularly important battlegrounds for the candidates' campaigns.