FILE - In this Jan. 19, 2008 file photo, then-Republican presidential hopeful, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, greets supporters standing outside a polling station on Nevada caucus day in Las Vegas. Nevada's 2008 GOP presidential caucuses, an attempt to give a diverse Western state a prominent say in choosing the Republican nominee, were a flop. No candidate competed seriously. Few Republicans voted. And the state squandered an opportunity to make its mark on the race. Republicans here hope it's going to be different this time around. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

WASHINGTON — Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney signaled his intention to make jobs and the economy the focus of his campaign as he kicked off his second try for president with an attack on President Barack Obama’s “failed” policies.

With an empty New Hampshire football field as a backdrop, the former Massachusetts governor recorded a 2-minute video announcement Monday that included nods toward the more conservative, tea party elements of his party. His campaign sent it to supporters, then posted it online.

Romney finished behind John McCain in the 2008 nomination contest, but recent polls show him the early leader for 2012. In a move driven mainly by the fundraising calendar, he filed candidacy papers with the Federal Election Commission; a ceremonial declaration will come by this summer. Romney is the second major Republican candidate to file papers, behind former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

The 64-year-old Romney, dressed casually in a dark jacket and checked sports shirt, said Obama’s lack of experience in “the real economy” is the reason his policies haven’t worked. The president and most of his advisers “just don’t know how jobs are created in the private sector,” he said.

Romney contrasted that with his own experience as a venture capitalist, which helped provide him with the personal wealth that has fueled his political career.

“Sometimes I was successful and helped create jobs,” he said, “other times I was not.”

That acknowledgement, at the start of his run, appeared designed to inoculate Romney against renewed criticism about large-scale layoffs at companies taken over by his firm, Bain Capital. It also pointed to the very different set of issues than he faced four years ago, when the war in Iraq topped the agenda.

In his brief remarks, Romney drew attention to New Hampshire, which stages the first primary, and Nevada, the first western caucus. He is counting on victories in both to survive expected losses in the early-voting states of Iowa and South Carolina, both dominated by social conservatives and evangelical voters who have never warmed to Romney.

His announcement came after an unannounced visit to the University of New Hampshire, where he said he spoke with students about the economy, and one day shy of the fifth anniversary of his signing of a sweeping Massachusetts health care law.

In the video, Romney did not mention health care, a potentially huge liability in the nomination fight because the state measure included a government health-insurance mandate similar to Obama’s, which has been denounced by conservatives.

New Hampshire Democratic Chairman Ray Buckley alluded to Romney’s defense of his health care plan — he says he wouldn’t impose the Massachusetts system on other states, which should be free to adopt their own plan — in attacking the Republican’s reputation for altering his stance on major issues.

“Is he the socially liberal Mitt Romney of 1994 and 2002 — the man who ran for the Senate and who served as a progressive governor of a neighboring state — or is he the Mitt Romney of 2008 and 2012, who changed all his positions as soon as he started thinking about running for the Republican nomination for president?” Buckley asked in a statement released Monday.

Romney reached out rhetorically to the Republican right in the video, employing a familiar tea party reference to “the principles of our Constitution” as the source of American “greatness,” a theme he repeated for emphasis three times.

He accused “Washington politicians” of setting the country on a “dangerous course” that has gotten “even worse” under Obama. “But,” Romney said, “I am also convinced that with able leadership, America’s best days are still ahead,” repeating a phrase popularized by Ronald Reagan and copied by politicians of both parties ever since.

Romney is considered to have the deepest fund-raising network of the potential GOP contenders, but one adviser said the campaign is already looking ahead to the challenge of competing against Obama, who launched his re-election last week amid predictions that he could raise $1 billion.

Among the next decisions Romney will face is whether to participate in the first GOP debate next month. The Fox News Channel is sponsoring a debate May 5 in Greenville, S.C., and has said that candidates must have registered an exploratory committee or announced their campaign by April 29 in order to participate.

- By Paul West, Tribune Washington Bureau