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President hits the links again; Romney tees off on golf outing

COURTESY: NATALIE NISHIDA
President Barack Obama hit the links at the Kaneohe Klipper golf course on Marine Corps Base Hawaii again today.

President Barack Obama is playing golf this afternoon, his fourth golf outing of his Hawaii vacation, as he wraps up a full week of vacation.

Obama is playing the Kaneohe Klipper course on Marine Corps Base Hawaii for the third time in a week. He played at the Koolau Golf Club on Wedesday.

Obama left his rented vacation home at about 11:30 a.m. The White House has not yet released the names of his golf partners, but on previous outings, Obama golfed with Hawaii friends Mike Ramos, Greg Orme and Bobby Titcomb, and with White House staffers.

In Iowa, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney again criticized the president for golfing while on vacation, seeking to portray Obama as out of touch with the economic pain felt by average Americans.

"He’s in Hawaii right now. We’re in the cold, in the rain, in the wind because we care about America," Romney said, speaking to several hundred supporters in the parking lot of a grocery store. "He just finished his 90th round of golf. We have 25 million Americans who are out of work, stopped looking for work or are underemployed. Home values have come down. The median income in America in the last four years has dropped by 10 percent."

Romney has a new website that asks supporters for an $18 donation, a dollar for each hole on the golf course.

Earlier today, the president worked out at the gym on the Marine base.

Obama is scheduled to return to Washington on Monday.

He’ll hit the road again on Wednesday, traveling to Cleveland the day after the Iowa caucuses as he seeks to draw a contrast with the Republicans running for president.

Obama won Ohio in 2008. But the state has been hard-hit economically during the president’s term, and is sure to be a political battleground in next year’s presidential election.

Obama aides say the president’s trip to Cleveland marks the start of an aggressive 2012 domestic travel schedule. Still, aides insist Obama will not fully engage in the presidential race until after Republicans pick a nominee.

The Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press contributed to this story.

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