Private companies are rarely a major issuein American presidential election campaigns.But some observers say that could change this yearbecause of Bain Capital.Bain Capital is an investment companywith offices in Boston, Massachusetts.Mitt Romney, the likely Republican Party candidatefor president, helped start the company.Profits from Bain Capitalhave made Mr. Romney very wealthy.Recently, President Obama has begun asking questionsabout Mister Romney's involvement with the company.The two men are set to face each otherin the November elections.Bain Capital is a private equity company.It uses money from wealthy individualsand financial organizations to buy other businesses.It then works to increase their profitabilitybefore selling them, often at a huge profit.Bain is one of America's leading venture capital companies.Its partners reportedly manage sixty-five businessessaid to be worth about sixty billion dollars.Mitt Romney helped to organize the companyin nineteen eighty-four.Mister Romney led Bain until he left in nineteen ninety-nine.He says the businesses Bain boughtand directed during his years with the companycreated about one hundred thousand jobs.Mister Romney has said that his time at Bainwas more important to himthan his years as governor of Massachusetts.He says both jobs gave him the experienceand skills necessary to help the American economy.The former governor spoke at a recent campaign event.He said Mister Obama has failed in his effortsto strengthen the economy.ROMNEY: "He has spent more and borrowed more.The time has come for a president, a leader, who will lead.I will lead us out of this debt and spending inferno."He also said that, if elected,he will change the way Washington operates.ROMNEY: "We need a presidentwho understands the power of free enterprisebecause he's lived it.And I have, and I will,and I'll make sure that is part of our future."Mister Obama and his campaign have sharply different ideasabout Mister Romney's time at Bain Capital.They have advertisements that describehow some of Bain's investments failed.The ads say the company's decisionscost thousands of workers their jobs,while Bain earned big profits on its investments.OBAMA: "I will say today, I think there are folks who do good work in that area and there are times where they identify the capacityfor the economy to create new jobs or new industries.But understand that their priority is to maximize profitsand that's not always going to be goodfor communities or businesses or workers."Mister Obama has dismissed Mister Romney's claimthat his years at Bain make him the right person to fix the economy.Several studies show that the economywill be the top issue in the election campaign.That means the president will have to spend a lot of timedefending his record. Democratic Party activists know many voters are unhappy about the economy.The president's supporters will note some improvementsin the economy as evidencethat the country is moving in the right direction.And that's IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English.For transcripts, MP3s and now PDFs of our programsfor e-readers, go to 51voa.com.