Romney Casts Himself as Compassionate, DC Outsider

(NewsCore) - An energetic Mitt Romney returned to the campaign trail in Atlanta Wednesday after losing three contests to Rick Santorum in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri.

Romney, in town for an evening fundraiser ahead of the state's Super Tuesday primary, addressed reporters on the tarmac after his plane landed in Atlanta.

The candidate quickly brushed off the losses in Tuesday's contests, saying he hadn't spent a lot of time or money in the three states.

"We think we can beat Senator Santorum where we compete head-to-head in an aggressive way and we obviously didn't do that in Colorado or Minnesota to the extent that the other campaign did," he said.

"Senator Santorum was able in Minnesota to level a lot of charges, some of them not accurate and I wasn't there to respond, that was just because I happened to be fighting hard out in Nevada."

He also painted himself as the true outsider in a race flanked by two consummate Washington insiders.

"Senator Santorum and Speaker Gingrich, they are the very Republicans who acted like Democrats and when Republicans act like Democrats they lose," he said.

Later, at a rally with supporters held at an Atlanta countertop business, Romney continued to hammer his rivals for the amount of time they had spent in the nation's Capitol.

"The other two guys -- Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum -- spent a lot of time in Washington and during their years we spent more money than we took in," he said, noting that federal spending had risen 80 percent during Santorum's time in Washington.

"I haven't spent any time in Washington, I've spent my life working in the real economy," Romney said to cheers from the crowd. "I don't think you can change Washington if you've been part of the culture of Washington."

Romney also sought to show voters his compassionate side, after he spent a week being forced to explain remarks in which he said he was not concerned about the "very poor."

He told the crowd that he was concerned with the high unemployment rate in the metro area.

"Being out of work a long time is a real threat and challenge to human happiness and I feel this president has let us down," he said.