DETROIT — President Obama is highlighting his support for the federal assistance plan that helped rescue Detroit automakers in a new television commercial that accuses Republican presidential candidates of abandoning the industry in its darkest hour.
The 30-second commercial, called “Made in America,” also mentions Mitt Romney’s now well-known opinion article that carried the headline “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.”
Over images of factory employees hard at work and smiling families, an announcer says, “when a million jobs were on the line, every Republican candidate turned their back, even said, ‘Let Detroit go Bankrupt.’”
Then the commercial pivots to the president. “Not him,” says the announcer as a sound bite of the president plays. “Don’t bet against the American auto industry,” Mr. Obama is shown saying.
The ad is certain to draw even more of a focus on the sensitive and complex politics of the auto industry bailout, which all the Republican candidates have said they opposed. Mr. Obama and Democrats have sought to draw attention to that opposition now that Detroit car makers are adding jobs and the economy in Michigan is showing signs of progress.
In a Detroit Free Press poll released today, there were signs that Mr. Romney’s opposition to the bailout were complicating his prospects here in his home state. Asked what they disliked most about Mr. Romney, 12 percent of likely Republican primary voters cited his opposition to the rescue plan.
Mitt Romney and an aide, Garrett Jackson, in Michigan on a bus, where a banner from a previous Romney campaign hangs. 
NOVI, Mich. — This was supposed to be a state, at last, where Mitt Romney could coast. After all, he grew up here. His father, an automobile executive, had been the governor. And the last time there was a Republican presidential primary in Michigan, Mr. Romney won handily. 
A one-stop destination for the latest political news — from The Times and other top sources. Plus opinion, polls, campaign data and video.Yet, with less than a week until Michigan Republicans vote and with polling suggesting that Rick Santorum is mounting a serious challenge, Mr. Romney finds himself urgently pouring resources into his home state — unveiling gauzy television ads aimed at reminding residents of his family roots and rolling out endorsements from a virtual who’s who in Lansing: the governor, a former Senate majority leader, the attorney general, a former attorney general, and on and on. While Mr. Romney’s comments against the federal bailout of the auto industry have drawn particular attention in Michigan, his troubles among Republican voters here appear to have less to do with his views on the bailout — which plenty of them say they were not keen on either — than with a shifting political landscape in a changing state and a fading, and in some cases tattered, emotional bond to the Romney name. “Sure, I’d love to be able to say that our president is from Michigan, but that’s not all that matters to me,” said Cindy Minier, a Republican Party chairwoman from Presque Isle County, who said she was leaning toward Newt Gingrich or, given a second choice, Mr. Santorum. “When it comes right down to it, I just don’t feel that Romney is a real conservative — not a real, true one.” It is hard to remember that in 2008, Michigan voters perceived Mr. Romney as the more conservative Republican beside Senator John McCain of Arizona, who ultimately won the nomination. This time, of course, others are claiming that mantle. Meanwhile, Michigan is changing too, with its long-struggling economy in the uncertain midst of transition, the emergence of Tea Party groups and conservatives who helped Republicans win a wave of elections in 2010, and an ever-growing generational split between those for whom 1950s- and 1960s-era images of Mitt Romney with his father still stir nostalgia and younger people with blurry memories of Gov. George W. Romney, or none at all. “It’s a joke,” Randy Bishop, 54 and a Tea Party organizer, said of Mr. Romney’s emphasis on his connections to Michigan. “He left after high school, became the governor of Massachusetts and never looked back.” Mr. Bishop criticized Mr. Romney for the health care insurance law he supported in Massachusetts, portrayed him as a “moderate in lockstep with the establishment folks” and described Michigan’s economy as a far cry from the manufacturing capital over which Mr. Romney’s father presided. Mr. Bishop said he would vote for Mr. Santorum. In a way, much of Michigan is only beginning to meet Mr. Santorum, the former senator from Pennsylvania. Even some supporters here acknowledged that they had not given particular attention to him until this month, when he won a series of races elsewhere. Michigan’s influential Right to Life political action committee said it would not endorse any one Republican over the others; all oppose abortion, it says. But Mr. Santorum drew praise from voters who said their evangelical Christian or Roman Catholic faith drove their political outlook, particularly from voters in the state’s western section and rural northern stretches. Plenty of Republicans — even some of Mr. Santorum’s supporters — said they believed that Mr. Romney would ultimately win here, given a flood of advertisements and support from influential Republican leaders. Mr. Romney certainly has a base of loyal supporters, some of whom seemed to view the outcome of Michigan’s primary as carrying a special, personal weight, and the notion that Mr. Romney might actually be in trouble here as reason to redouble their efforts now. “His family made a substantial effect on our state, and you just can’t take that away from him,” said Al Heilman, 76, who said he still had a photograph socked away somewhere of himself meeting Mr. Romney’s father decades ago. Mr. Heilman, a Republican chairman from Kalamazoo County in the southwestern part of the state, said some people seem to want to penalize Mr. Romney for his business experience. “I don’t understand people who kick people in the shins because they’ve been successful — profits make the world go around,” Mr. Heilman, who retired after running a confections and nuts business, said. “Look, we’re on a dive, and this is the time for a true businessman like Mitt Romney who can turn around the country.” 
In the brilliant sunshine of Arizona, Rick Santorum aggressively challenged Mitt Romney in a state where the Tea Party is strong and the politics of immigration are poised to take center stage at a debate on Wednesday night. 
Ken Elzerman removed signs for Rick Santorum before Santorum's opponent, Mitt Romney, spoke at a factory in Shelby, Mich., on Tuesday. 
Dennis Lennox carried Mitt Romney signs before a Romney appearance at a factory in Shelby, Mich., on Tuesday. And in the gritty cold of Michigan, the advertising air war intensified, as Mr. Romney increasingly faced questions about his conservative credentials from voters in his home state, a place of grim economic news and plenty of cultural conservatives. Together, the two states — separated by about 1,700 miles — are the immediate battlegrounds for a Republican presidential contest that appears to be tightening drastically in the week before voters go to the polls to award the biggest single-day cache of delegates since the race began. Mr. Santorum held two events in Arizona on Tuesday as he sought to seize on anecdotal and polling evidence that Mr. Romney’s large lead in the state may be quickly evaporating. Speaking to about 500 people at the Maricopa County Lincoln Day luncheon, Mr. Santorum tipped his hat to the Tea Party movement, many of whose members had packed into the large Shriners’ hall to hear him speak. “We need to take everything from food stamps to Medicaid to housing programs to education training programs,” he said. “We need to cut ’em, cap ’em, freeze ’em, send ’em to the states and say that there has to be a time limit and a work requirement,” he said, the rest of his words drowned out by thunderous applause. Mr. Santorum is scheduled to address Tea Party activists near Tucson on Wednesday. Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona, who plans to make an endorsement in the race after the debate, said in an interview that Mr. Santorum was eroding Mr. Romney’s advantage because “he comes across as straightforward, honest and solid.” She said she believes that Mr. Romney is conservative, but that many voters do not. Mr. Romney has been building an organization in Arizona for months, aided by an endorsement from Senator John McCain, the state’s senior Republican. But on the eve of the nationally televised debate, one of Mr. Romney’s top supporters in the state expressed concern about his chances of winning. Randy Pullen, a former chairman of the Arizona Republican Party who endorsed Mr. Romney last year, said Tuesday that he was no longer certain that Mr. Romney would win the state’s primary. He said he believed Mr. Romney’s 20-point lead had evaporated, declaring, “Now it’s a dead heat.” Mr. Pullen said Mr. Romney’s campaign had been unsuccessful — and, in his view, had not tried hard enough — in its effort to connect with Republican activists willing to unite around beating President Obama. “There has to be some enthusiasm in the race,” Mr. Pullen said in an interview. “Right now there’s not much. I don’t regret my decision, I’m just frustrated. I think he’s honest and straightforward, but the real Romney needs to come out. We need to see the energy, and we need to see the passion we’ve seen from the other candidates.” In Michigan, Mr. Romney held a town-hall meeting in Shelby to talk about the difficult economy in the state and his plans to help turn around the nation’s fiscal situation. Mr. Romney hinted Tuesday that he would soon unveil a new tax plan that would feature “a flatter, fairer, broader-based tax system.” But voters at the town hall peppered him with questions about social issues instead, forcing him off message. It was a vivid reminder of how much the Republican primaries next week may turn on terrain that has repeatedly frustrated Mr. Romney’s political ambitions this year: questions about his commitment to the conservative cause. “I want to hear you say it,” said Feleiteau Epley, 58, to Mr. Romney at the Shelby Town Hall. “That you are 100 percent pro-life. No abortions.” Mr. Romney did not oblige. Instead, he described himself as “pro-life” — making room for exceptions in the case of incest, rape and when the life of the mother is at stake — a position that left Ms. Epley, who is considering voting for Mr. Santorum, unsatisfied. The latest Michigan polls generally show a tight race between the two candidates after a surge in support for Mr. Santorum. A Detroit News survey last week showed the race effectively tied. 
Josh Haner/The New York TimesGov. Rick Snyder of Michigan and Mitt Romney attending a lunch at the Farmington Hills Manor. Mr. Snyder endorsed Mr. Romney, citing his private sector experience.