AC

Mitt Romney delivered the third in a series of campaign speeches Wednesday that aides say are aimed at framing the central themes of his presidential bid ahead of the conventions. The first, a May 8 address in Lansing, MI, focused on innovation in business. A second in Des Moines, IA looked at the national debt, and today's touched heavily on education. The stump speeches are reminiscent of a similar series that Vice President Joe Biden delivered in March that laid the foundation for his and President Barack Obama's reelection campaign. Biden's four speeches centered on challenges facing the middle class—in fact, he said "middle class" 38 times, according to the Ticket's analysis of common words and phrases in the transcripts. A similar analysis of Romney's three speeches, using a transcript of the remarks as prepared for delivery, found that education trumped the economy as the most common theme. Romney mentions "school" 39 times, "students" 20...