Mitt Romney made his fifth Indiana campaign stop Wednesday delivering a downtown speech to the national convention of the American Legion.

He flew here from Tampa, arriving on stage ahead of schedule and then, after remarks that lasted just 16 minutes, headed back to Florida and the Republican National Convention.  In his speech Romney made no mention of Indiana and probably didn’t need to.  He holds a double digit lead here.

Instead he focused on foreign policy and defense issues.  He also made frequent attacks on President Obama in what amounts to a warm up for his nomination speech Thursday night.

“Where the President has failed to lead,” he said, “we will protect our national defense from cuts that will jeopardize critical missions.  Where he’s let down our veterans, we will welcome them home to a booming economy and the jobs they need.  Where he’s dodged the tough choices,” he went on, “we will confront them head on and deliver a better future for Americans of this generation and the next.”

He said there was one reason for not staying in Tampa to polish it.  “When our nation called you answered.” he said, “and I consider any opportunity to address our nation’s veterans a privilege not to be missed.”

Romney asked the crowd to tune in tonight for the speech by his running mate Paul Ryan and he shook hands for several minutes following his remarks.

It was a low key performance but a receptive crowd.  The President spoke to the American Legion Convention last year and sent videotaped remarks yesterday.