WESTERVILLE, Ohio (September 26, 2012)—Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney said Wednesday the nation's debt could grow to almost $20 trillion if the President Barack Obama is re-elected.

Romney also said his policies would do more to help middle-class families than the president's.

Campaigning in Ohio, where polls give the advantage to Mr. Obama, the Republican presidential nominee combined a sharper focus on the mounting debt with an insistence that middle-class families are struggling.

"I want to help them,” he said.

The national debt is $16 trillion and growing.

Romney said the interest payments alone cost more than what the U.S. spends on several government departments combined.

Romney planned two additional stops Wednesday in Ohio.