Guvs Call for More Action, Less Talk, in White House Runs

ABC News’ Teddy Davis Reports: As evidenced by major speeches delivered Tuesday, two White House hopefuls — Republican Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Democrat Tom Vilsack of Iowa — are hoping history repeats itself and that Americans once again choose a president with gubernatorial experience.

Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, presented himself Tuesday as a doer rather than a talker while formally declaring his presidential bid in Michigan, the state where his dad once served as governor.

"America faces unprecedented challenges," Romney said in a portion of his speech which departed from his prepared remarks, "we’re under attack from Jihadists, we face new competition from Asia . . . , we’re spending too much money, our schools are failing too many of our kids, 45 million Americans don’t have health insurance, we’re using too much oil, and what does Washington do? It talks and debates and kicks the ball down the field. It’s time for less talk and more action in government."

This is not the first time that Romney has styled himself as a Washington outsider who knows how to get things done.

He made a similar argument while speaking in Iowa last year, arguing that the difference between the near-universal health care plan which he signed into law in Massachusetts, and the unsuccessful plan pushed by Clinton in the 1990s, was simple enough to understand.

"That’s easy," Romney told his Hawkeye State audience. "Mine got done."

Mindful that four of the last five presidents — George W. Bush of Texas, Bill Clinton of Arkansas, Ronald Reagan of California, and Jimmy Carter of Georgia — served as governor before being elected president, Vilsack is also playing up his gubernatorial experience and outsider status.

In Tuesday remarks to the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, Vilsack called for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the United States by 75 percent in the next half-century. He told the Des Moines Register he thinks he is "uniquely suited" to talk about the issue of energy security because of his record promoting renewable energy in Iowa. He also drove home his "I’m a doer, not a talker" message by pledging to run a carbon neutral campaign. For every emission to the atmosphere the campaign creates, Vilsack to send payments to help finance the construction of clean and renewable energy projects.

"I think that the nation has an affinity for governors," Vilsack told National Public Radio earlier this month. "We actually do the work of what a president is supposed to do, making judgments, governing, balancing budgets, making tough decisions. I happen to be someone who’s from outside the Beltway, and that’s also something that I think people around the country are looking for."