The Republican vice presidential candidate denied for a second time Thursday that he ever lobbied the government for stimulus money, even though he sent letters —with his signature — to the feds asking for millions of the program’s dollars on behalf of two companies in Wisconsin.

He seeks to convince voters that Obama is a politician of volcanic anger and ambition.

The shift for a party that has long sought to project strength on those issues may not hurt in an election dominated by sluggish economic growth and high unemployment.