President Obama Says He Debated a "Different Mitt"

President Barack Obama addressed an audience of tens of thousands packed onto the campus of the UW-Madison Thursday. The president said Mitt Romney did not tell the truth when the two men debated Wednesday night.

The president told the crowd that the Mitt Romney they all know was not the Romney they saw in the debate, “Whoever it was that was on stage last night doesn’t want to be held accountable for what the real Mitt Romney’s been saying for the last year. And that’s because he knows full well that we don’t want what he’s been selling over the last year.”

The president made several such references to drive home his point, working in a jab at Romney’s time at the private equity firm Bain Capital, “The Mitt Romney we all know invested in companies that were called pioneers of outsourcing jobs to other countries. The guy on stage last night, he said, he’d never heard of tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. Never heard of them. And he said if that’s true, he must need a new accountant. So now we know for sure that wasn’t the real Mitt Romney because the real Mitt Romney is doing just fine with the accountant he already has.”

The president urged young people in the audience to register to vote and vote early. Police estimated the crowd at 30,000 people.

While polls have consistently shown Mr. Obama leading in Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker issued a statement saying the president was “on his heels” and chose to recover from a bad debate in one of the most liberal places in America.