DES MOINES, IOWA (CNN) – It was a mini Twitter town hall.

After delivering remarks on his clean energy policy in Newton, Iowa, President Obama sat down at a laptop and answered a handful of questions on Twitter that had been submitted hours earlier by the tweeting public.

“This is barack-let’s get this started!” Mr. Obama typed.

In 40 characters or less questions ranged from help for homeowners stuck in  under water mortgages, energy independence,  to assistance for small businesses.

“ What plans do u have to keep us & our fellow smlbiz afloat?” one person wrote.

President Obama responded by explaining what he had done to give small businesses tax credits for hiring new workers and that he was pushing for more assistance on his to-do list.

“items on #CongressToDoList puts more $ in folks pockets, which means more customers for you,” he wrote.

On a question about student loans the president blamed Republicans for “not moving fast enough.”

When one person asked about help for homeowners trapped in upside down mortgages, president Obama took a swipe at his likely opponent Mitt Romney even though he didn’t mention him by name.

“I refuse to let mkt hit bottom,” he wrote, a veiled reference to comments Romney once made about the housing market. “Refi could save folks $3k each mo.”

Mr. Obama ended the twitter q & a by telling his cyber audience that he was off to Des Moines, where he was holding a grassroots campaign rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

“thx for questions – keep em coming. remember we’re not D’s or R’s but americans first! –bo”

Link: Obama mini Twitter town hall