Romney gets cool reception

Drawing a small group of supporters and the ire of local politicians, presidential hopeful Mitt Romney swept into North Hollywood on Wednesday, using the backdrop of a desolate mall to brand President Obama's economic policies a failure. Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

"The president is fond of saying he didn't cause the recession, he inherited the recession," said Romney, standing in a parking lot in front of Valley Plaza. "And that's true. But he made it worse and he also made worse the recovery."

In Los Angeles as part of a two-day fundraising trip, the Republican former Massachusetts governor drew parallels between the economy and the mall, which was picked up by New York-based lender iStar Financial after developer JH Snyder defaulted on the loan earlier this year. Romney accused Obama of focusing on a "liberal agenda," and putting issues like health care reform ahead of job creation