Remarks with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at a Campaign Event in Delaware, Ohio

[cheers and applause]

AUDIENCE MEMBERS: [chanting] Four more weeks! Four more weeks!

GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE: All right. Yeah, you got the memo. [cheers and applause]

Well, we are — we are thrilled to be here. We're thrilled to be here in Delaware. And thank you all for turning out. It's so great. And you know you're right. We just got four more weeks to put up with Barack Obama in the White House. [cheers and applause]

We've been traveling all across Ohio together for the last day and a half or so, seen so many wonderful folks who have such great dreams for their children and grandchildren. They want this country to be for those kids what it's been for us. And we're willing to fight for it and sacrifice together to get it. All we need to do is get a leader to lead us there. And we have that person. And I'm thrilled to call him my friend. And you're going to be proud to call him the next president of the United States, Governor Mitt Romney. [cheers and applause]

MITT ROMNEY: Thank you, Chris. And I — I see your state auditor here. Come on, get — get the state auditor up here. Dave Yost, state auditor, a man from Delaware. Come on up here. This is the guy that helped chair my campaign when I — during my primary time. He's a Delaware man. [cheers and applause] Appreciate his help and support. Thank you, Auditor.

And Chris Christie, coming here all the way from New Jersey — can you believe that — to help me out. Isn't that amazing? [cheers and applause] We've been going across Ohio today and asking people questions and taking questions from them. But the question I have for the people of Ohio is this: Can you afford four more years of Barack Obama?

AUDIENCE MEMBERS: No!

MR. ROMNEY: I — I hope people understand just what he would cost. He would be very expensive for the people of Ohio if he were to get re-elected. I hope people calculate this. I want them on November 6th to — well, if you're early voting, you can start thinking about it right now, which is how much would it cost to have Barack Obama president for four more years? Because I know some things.

There's the Obama economy tax.

That's meant that the income of the average American has gone down by $4,300 a family. We can't afford that.

And then of course there's his plan for Medicare, cutting $716 billion of — out of Medicare. We can't afford that. I will put that money back in Medicare and honor our promises to our seniors. [cheers and applause]

We can't afford "Obamacare." "Obamacare" would cost the average family $2,500 a year more in insurance premiums. I will repeal "Obamacare" and finally get real health care reform in our country. [cheers and applause]

We can't afford a — another series of budget deficits of roughly a trillion dollars a year. I mean, recognize this is not just bad for the economy; it's bad for jobs because as debt gets larger and larger, the economy slows down, we don't put as many people to work. It's also bad for the coming generations. I think it's immoral for us to keep spending massively more than we take in, passing on those burdens to our kids.

But don't forget how much it would cost the people of Ohio in extra interest costs. The calculation is that the president's going to raise taxes on middle-income families by $4,000 a family to pay for that additional interest cost of his budget.

Look, my plan is not to raise those costs on middle-income families. I will not raise tax on middle-income families. We're going to keep taxes low and get them lower, if we can. [cheers and applause]

And I will get them lower. Let me tell you how we can.

I have a plan to cut taxes for middle-income taxpayers. My plan does this: There will be no tax on interest, dividends or capital gains for middle-income families in America. That means — [cheers] — that means you save money, don't have too worry about the government trying to make you to fill out forms to figure out how much interest you got from the bank or — or if you have a mutual fund, what a capital gain was from the mutual fund.

We'll simplify your taxes and make them lower for the middle class.

My commitment is this. My tax plan is this. We will not raise taxes on the American people. We'll lower them. [cheers and applause]

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yeah!

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yeah!

MR. ROMNEY: Four more years of Barack Obama would also cost you a very different military. Four more years of Barack Obama would mean that our military would see roughly, well, at least 500 billion (dollars) in cuts and, if sequestration is sustained, another 500 billion (dollars) on top of that. Jobs would be lost here in Ohio. Tens of thousands of jobs would be lost here in Ohio. Across the country the job loss would be extraordinary. And of course our military would be devastated, in the words of the secretary of defense. We can't afford that additional cost of Barack Obama. It's one more reason why we're going vote for a change in Washington to keep America strong and to keep those jobs. [cheers and applause]

And let me mention one more thing. I don't think you can afford another doubling of gasoline prices under Barack Obama. [boos] I mean, since he's been president, the price of gasoline has doubled, and that's happened in part because the president has not taken advantage of our energy. When I become president, we're going to double the number of permits on federal lands and federal waters for drilling, make sure that we can get more oil and gas and use our coal and our nuclear, renewables. We're going to have an energy abundance in America and keep our prices more moderate. [applause]

So you guys — I — I don't know what — I — we're going to get some bakery goods in here in a minute, right? We're going to get some good food. [cheers] We — I want to get inside, have some of the goodies here.

But I want thank you for spending some time with us today and ask your friends over the coming — coming days, do you really think we can afford Barack Obama? Ask them that question. Ask, how much more do you think he's going to cost us? How much more in wages going down? How much more in health insurance costs? How much more in gasoline price? How much more in — in weakening our military? How much more in cuts to Medicare?

All these things, Barack Obama is costing the people of Ohio — when they see how much he's — he's costing, they're going to say, you know what, let's just give him four more weeks; it's time for new leadership over the coming four years. [cheers and applause]

We're going to make that happen. Thanks, you guys. Great to be with you. And thanks for welcoming us today. You're very kind. [cheers and applause]