Romney says big business 'doing fine,' with foreign tax haven assist

Romney made no mention of Akin or hot-button social issues Thursday. He rolled out an energy policy that his campaign says would create more than three million jobs and centered his fundraising remarks on the economy.

Romney's campaign sought to mitigate any potential distractions from his comments on big business and tax havens. Spokeswoman Andrea Saul said Romney "has long said we need to simplify the tax code, close loopholes and create a more level playing field for American businesses."

In his remarks, Romney drew a distinction between big business and small businesses. He said that, if elected, he would seek to make it easier for small businesses to succeed.

The extent of Romney's offshore investments is unclear because the presumptive GOP presidential nominee has only released his 2010 personal tax returns.

Romney's campaign says he plans to release his 2011 returns later this year when the documents are ready. Romney has said he paid at least 13 percent of his income in taxes over the past 10 years.

Obama and his surrogates say Romney has a responsibility to give the public a fuller picture of his finances. They often cite the dozen years of tax returns Romney's father, George Romney, released during his presidential campaign as a standard for candidates.

Many Republicans have also called on Romney to be more forthcoming about his personal wealth and income.

Meantime, Romney wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal touting "what I learned at Bain Capital."

"The lessons I learned over my 15 years at Bain Capital were valuable in helping me turn around the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City," he said in the article published Friday. "They also helped me as governor of Massachusetts to turn a budget deficit into a surplus and reduce our unemployment to 4.7 percent. The lessons from that time would help me as president to fix our economy, create jobs and get things done in Washington."

As Romney pushed toward his party's convention, Democrats unveiled more plans for their convention, which follows the GOP events.

Democratic Party officials announced a new slate of speakers, including two prominent businessmen: CarMax co-founder and former CEO Austin Ligon and Costco co-founder and former CEO Jim Sinegal.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker will also speak at the convention, a sign that tensions have eased between him and the Obama campaign after he criticized the president's attacks on Romney's private sector background.

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