MOUNT VERNON, Iowa » President Barack Obama is ridiculing rival Mitt Romney’s five-point plan for the economy as a “sketchy deal” that boils down to helping the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.

Obama told a political rally at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, that Romney won’t reveal details about how to pay for his proposed 20 percent cut in tax rates.

The president says that when politicians say they will wait to explain plans until after the election, “they don’t have a pleasant surprise in store for you.”

Playing off a Romney response during Tuesday’s presidential debate, Obama says that when it comes to recruiting new math and science teachers “we don’t have to collect a bunch of binders to find qualified, talented, driven young women.”