Romney struggles to regain momentum Mitt Romney arrives in West Palm Beach, Florida, for a fundraising event after a challenging week for the Republican nominee Mitt Romney touched down in southern Florida at the end of the two most challenging weeks of his presidential bid, selling his usual five-point plan to save the US economy. But as he jetted from a forum with Latinos in Miami to a rally in Sarasota and then a fundraiser in Palm Beach, he was also trying to save his campaign. The week started with a promise by Ed Gillespie, a top campaign adviser, that Mr Romney would begin delivering more details about his plans for the nation - details the campaign said voters wanted to hear. But as Mr Romney stood before Latino voters in Miami at a forum sponsored by Univision, the Spanish language broadcaster, his skin looking a peculiar orange under the television lights and he struggled to present a fresh argument to a critical demographic about his immigration policies. He started off on the defensive. In a broadcast that was less than an hour long, he repeated four times that his campaign was about helping "100 per cent" of Americans. The repetition was a painful recognition of the damage done by this week's release of a secret recording in which he offered a disparaging appraisal of "47 per cent" of the population as government-dependent, self-described victims to a group of wealthy donors, arguing that "my job is not to worry about those people." Friday capped this most difficult week in Mr Romney's bid for the presidency, where every misstep and mistake of the previous weeks, from the poorly executed party convention to his awkward critique of the president following the death of American diplomats in Libya, seemed to culminate in the release of the "47 per cent" video. Instead of reacting to the developments with a sense of urgency, on the road the campaign often seemed fatigued. There were moments when Mr Romney seemed eager to sound like the moderate governor of Massachusetts he once was. He opposed President Barack Obama's plan temporarily to stop deporting young people who had entered the country illegally because "these kids deserve something better." But he stopped short of offering an alternative. At a rally a short while after the Univision event and a fundraiser, Mr Romney stood and looked on as his son Craig introduced him to a rowdy crowd in a not quite full auditorium. Using English and his fluent Spanish - learnt during Mormon missionary work in Chile - Craig recalled the trepidation he felt when his father made the decision to run for president. I know my dad. He's a man of incredible integrity and incredible experience. But I was concerned that the voters wouldn't get to know him like that," the younger Mr Romney said, suggesting it was a fear that had been realised. It was a sentiment that was left lingering in the room, even as the festive crowd cheered for their candidate holding "Juntos con Romney" signs and a band played Guantanamera. Unlike other candidates who seem visibly energised by crowds, Mr Romney enters and exits relatively quickly, making what feels like perfunctory stops on his path to the White House. It was only when a man yelled "free Cuba" as he spoke that Mr Romney mentioned the nation 90 miles away, praising "brave" individuals who had recently engaged in a hunger strike. He then moved on, as if he had checked it off his list. It is that apparent lack of energy that drives the growing concerns in Republican circles about what they describe as a lifeless and poorly-run Romney campaign. One party insider, who was close to the campaign, said it had become "severely" insular in the past three weeks. The "painful transition" between speeches by Mr Romney's wife Ann and Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor, at the convention in Tampa, the person said, "was the first indication that they didn't have their act together." It shook the pros and nothing since then has restored confidence. Since then, the campaign seems to have gone underground, focused on preparation for upcoming presidential debates, which remain a potential "game changer" for Mr Romney, and on fundraising. Mr Romney has held just 13 public campaign events in the past three weeks and 13 fundraisers. In Sarasota, where he gave a quick speech in the tropical heat to a crowd of mostly elderly voters, Mr Romney accused Mr Obama of flying "the white flag of surrender" after the president said he could not change Washington from the "inside." A man repeatedly shouted "Send him back to Kenya" whenever Mr Romney mentioned Mr Obama, and no one flinched. Mr Romney finished his speech and spent a longer time than usual shaking hands before heading back to the airport. As he approached his waiting aircraft, ready to take him to a fundraiser in Palm Beach, a reporter asked whether he would be campaigning a little harder from now on. Ha ha. We're in the stretch aren't we? Mr Romney responded. Look at those clouds. It's beautiful," he then said, pointing to the sky. Look at those things.