Cutter and Messina declined to preview specifics of the president's convention address.
Romney in his address to the Republican convention last week in Tampa, Florida, sought to identify with the dreams and disappointments of U.S. voters amid high unemployment, saying Obama's 2008 campaign promise to bring "hope and change" has given way to "disappointment and division."
Defending Obama
Cutter defended Obama's record when asked whether the country is better off now than four years ago. She said even if Americans may not feel so individually, "The country is stronger" for Obama's success against al-Qaeda, for his domestic policies, including expansion of health-care coverage and insurance protections, and for ending the war in Iraq and winding down the fighting in Afghanistan.
In an interview with a Colorado television station that aired yesterday, Obama gave himself a grade of "incomplete" on the economy.
Romney's campaign seized on the comment: "If he can't even give himself a passing grade, why would the American people give him another four years," Andrea Saul, a Romney campaign spokeswoman said in a statement today.
Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters traveling with the president that the Romney campaign "clearly hasn't done their homework." The president has made similar remarks before to indicate he has more work to do, she said.
Protest March
In the streets of Charlotte, four rows of police today surrounded and blocked a group of more than 75 Occupy Wall Street protesters attempting to march from their encampment in a city park toward the Convention Center, where Democratic delegates held midday meetings and the news media are headquartered.
Some marchers carried a cloth banner that said "Free Pfc. Manning. Whistleblowing is not a crime." The sign referred to Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army private accused of leaking hundreds of thousands classified military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks.
'War Parties'
"Both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are war parties" said a speaker whose voice was broadcast by a portable loudspeaker from inside the police cordon.
One protester was arrested for trying to cross police lines, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Rodney Moore said.
The Democrats' three-day convention will feature ordinary Americans -- many of whom have introduced Obama at campaign events -- talking about how his policies on health care, the bailout of the auto industry and other issues have benefited them personally, Democratic officials told reporters at a briefing today.