“I love it that women are upset, too, that women are talking about the economy, I love that,” Mrs. Romney said at a pancake breakfast here. “Women are talking about jobs, women are talking about deficit spending. Thank you, women.”…

Mr. Romney is often introduced by his wife at political events, but her role has taken on greater meaning as the campaign looks ahead to independent voters, particularly women, who polls show have been put off by the candidates’ rightward shift on immigration and social issues…

In a speech in Boston on March 6, Super Tuesday, where the discussion leading up to the contests in the 10 states that day had been heavily dominated by issues of contraception, Mrs. Romney addressed the women she said she had been hearing from “all across this country.”

“Do you know what women care about — and this is what I love — women care about jobs,” Mrs. Romney said at the time. “Women care about the economy, they care about their children, and they care about the debt.