With economic indicators pointing toward a recession, voters in hard-hit Michigan, which leads the nation in unemployment, gave Romney his first big win in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Romney, citing his practical business experience, promised to help restore Michigan's ailing auto industry and "fight for every single job." The message resonated with voters in his home state. The former venture capitalist and Harvard Business School graduate received 39 percent of the vote compared to 30 percent for the runner-up, Sen. John McCain.

After his loss in New Hampshire, when exit polls indicated that voters believed Romney ran a negative campaign, the candidate switched tactics. By focusing on himself and the economy, the former Massachusetts governor takes the spotlight off his Mormonism, the undocumented workers who tended his garden and his flip-flopping on key social issues such as abortion.

The Romney plan for improving the economy makes it sound as if he studied at the George W. Bush School of Economics instead of Harvard, particularly when it comes to taxation.

Romney says he would work to kill the death tax, make the Bush tax cuts permanent, and eliminate all taxes on interest, dividends and capital gains for Americans with incomes under $200,000. And he would, according to his Web site, "lower income tax rates across the board to reward productivity and leave more money in the economy for consumption and investment."

Romney, who cited "unfunded mandates" and excess federal regulation for Michigan's woes, would also reinstate the Bush corporate welfare policies.

He proposes lowering the corporate tax rate. He would attempt to strengthen education, and consolidate and streamline worker retraining programs, to provide an improved workforce. He would push for tort reform to curb lawsuits he claims are strangling businesses. And he would cast aside proposals for "cumbersome and unnecessary" regulations, including climate change initiatives like improved fuel economy for motor vehicles and carbon cap-and-trade programs - that he believes stifle economic growth and job creation.

The new strategy worked in Michigan. Now, we'll see if the rest of the GOP wants four more years of George Bush economics.