- An already negative presidential campaign gets even more bitter
- Mitt Romney says President Obama will "do anything in his power" to get re-elected
- An Obama campaign spokesman says Romney's comments seem "unhinged"
- The president concludes a three-day bus tour of Iowa on Wednesday
(CNN) -- President Barack Obama wraps up a three-day bus tour of Iowa on Wednesday under steady attack from Republican rival Mitt Romney over Medicare reforms and what Romney contends is the president's divide-and-conquer campaign strategy.
With less than three months until Election Day in November, the already negative campaign took an even more bitter turn this week after Romney chose House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan as his running mate.
Ryan is best known for a conservative budget plan passed by the House that would partially privatize Medicare, which Democrats say would kill the government-run health care program for senior citizens.
Knowing it would face attacks on Ryan's Medicare proposal, the Romney campaign counterpunched Tuesday with a new ad accusing Obama of cutting more than $700 billion from the popular entitlement program.
The Obama campaign rejected the claim as untrue, setting off a series of back-and-forth attacks and complaints Tuesday in which both sides accused the other of dishonesty and hypocrisy.
Romney continued that tone Wednesday, saying in a morning interview with CBS that the Obama campaign is "about division and attack and hatred," adding it is "designed to bring a sense of enmity and jealously and anger."
"The president seems to be running to hang on to power," the former Massachusetts governor said. "I think he'll do anything in his power to try and get re-elected."
A spokesman for the Obama campaign responded to similar comments by Romney on Tuesday by saying the Republican candidate also had gone negative in the campaign.
"Gov. Romney's comments tonight seemed unhinged, and particularly strange coming at a time when he's pouring tens of millions of dollars into negative ads that are demonstrably false," said Obama campaign Press Secretary Ben LaBolt.
In particular, Romney and Republicans focused on a comment Tuesday by Vice President Joe Biden at a Virginia campaign stop regarding how Romney's call for less regulation of Wall Street would hurt the middle class.
Biden accused Romney of promising to lift regulations on big banks in an effort to "unchain Wall Street," adding: "He is going to put y'all back in chains." Biden later said he was playing off Republican references to the "shackles" that regulations place on the private sector.
Asked about Biden's comment, Romney said Wednesday it was beneath the dignity of a presidential campaign. At the same time, Romney sounded conciliatory about deregulation, saying "no one is talking about deregulating Wall Street."
"Of course, we have to have regulation on Wall Street and on every street to make sure our county works well," said Romney, who has previously called for repealing the Wall Street reform measure that was intended to prevent another financial meltdown like the one in 2008.
Romney has yet to detail what regulations he would keep or enact to replace the Dodd-Frank Act he has pledged to repeal.
The campaigns also are involved in an escalating struggle to seize the advantage on the contentious Medicare issue. The Obama campaign has described Ryan's reforms as the death knell for the program while the Romney campaign tried to Tuesday to distance him from the specific Ryan proposal while launching its counterattack.
"When he ran for office he said he'd protect Medicare, but did you know that he has taken $716 billion out of the Medicare trust fund -- he's raided that trust fund -- and you know what he did with it?" Romney said Tuesday at an Ohio campaign event. "He's used it to pay for Obamacare -- a risky, unproven, federal government takeover of health care -- and if I'm president of the United States we're putting the $716 billion back."
A July 24 Congressional Budget Office report said that repealing the health care law, as called for by Romney and Ryan, would increase spending on Medicare by $716 billion through 2022. At the same time, the CBO letter said keeping Obamacare in place would not mean a $716 billion decrease in Medicare spending as claimed by Romney and his ad.
The Obama campaign called Romney's claim "dishonest and "hypocritical."
"The savings his ad attacks do not cut a single guaranteed Medicare benefit, and Mitt Romney embraced the very same savings when he promised he'd sign Paul Ryan's budget," said Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith.
Romney sounded undaunted Wednesday, repeating the claim in the CBS interview when asked to comment on how Ryan's plan and Obama's health care reforms both include the $716 billion in Medicare savings that he criticizes.
"Congressman Ryan has joined my campaign, and his campaign is my campaign now. We're on exactly the same page," Romney said. "My campaign has made it very clear. The president's cuts of $716 billion to Medicare, those cuts are going to be restored if I become president and Paul Ryan becomes vice president."
Ryan has yet to comment on the difference between his Medicare proposal, which was part of a broader budget and tax plan passed by House Republicans, and Romney's remarks on the issue.
Obama will address the Medicare issue on his final day in Iowa, campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
"The president will talk about how his reforms have strengthened Medicare, saved millions of seniors on Medicare hundreds of dollars on their prescription drugs and cut the cost of Medicare by cutting wasteful spending out of the health care system -- without impacting the benefits Medicare recipients receive by even a dime," Psaki said in a written statement. "And he will lay out the choice between his plan and the Romney-Ryan plan to end Medicare as we know it."
First lady Michelle Obama will join the president for two events Wednesday that conclude the three-day bus tour through the state where his 2008 campaign first took off.
At appearances Tuesday, Obama said Romney appears to be unaware of the wind energy industry developing in the state.
"Gov. Romney said let's end the tax credits for wind energy production, let's get rid of them. He said that new sources of energy like wind are imaginary," Obama said, noting the industry supports nearly 7,000 jobs in Iowa alone.
"If he knew what you've been doing, he'd know that about 20% of Iowa's electricity now comes from wind, powering our homes and our factories and our businesses in a way that's clean and renewable," Obama said. He later called for a halt to providing billions of dollars in tax subsidies to oil companies making "huge profits" and instead investing in "the new homegrown energy that's creating jobs here in Iowa."
Overall, the campaign focus has remained on Ryan and his budget plan passed by House Republicans. It calls for sharp cuts in non-military spending to shrink government as well as stark reforms to the Medicare and Medicaid programs that provide health care to senior citizens, the poor and the disabled.
Ryan's proposals include the provision that Medicare-approved private insurers would one day compete with traditional Medicare on an exchange. The intention of his plan is to remake Medicare so that it remains financially viable for future generations, while preserving the benefits of current seniors and those who will qualify in the next 10 years, Ryan told CBS on Sunday.
Campaigning Tuesday in Colorado, Ryan made no specific mention of his Medicare reform plans. Later Tuesday he attended an event at GOP bankroller Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas hotel.
Republicans reject the Democratic tactic to tie Romney to the Ryan proposal, saying the former Massachusetts governor has his own budget and tax plans that are similar to Ryan's but also include key differences.
CNN's Ashley Killough, Rachel Streitfeld, Gregory Wallace, Paul Steinhauser and Peter Hamby contributed to this report.
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