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Obama Camp Gets More Mileage from Romney Ads
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – President Obama’s re-election campaign is trying to drive up the mileage guage on Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s ads implying that General Motors and Chrysler are adding jobs in China at the expense of U.S. workers.
The president's campaign began airing a new ad of its own Thursday in Ohio and Michigan that emphasizes the widespread criticism of Romney’s ad, which has been called “wholly inaccurate and clearly misleading” and highlights how GM and Chrysler -- recipients of federal aid during their bankruptcy reorganizations -- have come out against the ad, said Stephanie Cutter, Obama for America deputy campaign manager, during a conference call Thursday.
“You can understand how this is playing in Ohio and Michigan,” and has since become a national story, Cutter said.
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan and former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland joined Cutter on the call. Levin targeted Romney’s shifting positions on the auto rescue, from advocating a “structured bankruptcy” with federal loan guarantees rather than direct federal aid in the infamously headlined “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt” op-ed piece and criticizing the rescue during a 2011 primary debate in May and then saying he takes “a lot of credit” for the auto industry resurgence. “That approach didn’t work so in the final days of the campaign, if claiming credit for what he opposed didn’t work, it’s time to attack again,” Levin said.
“This is not a move that a campaign makes when it is winning,” Strickland said, characterizing the attack as “a desperate act by a desperate man” and “a dishonest end to a dishonest campaign.” The claims in the ads have been “fact-checked to Mars and back,” he remarked.
“This issue goes beyond autos. It goes to truthfulness and character,” Strickland said.
In response, the Romney campaign said criticism over the ads proves that the presidents allies “are not interested in engaging in a meaningful conversation” about the administration’s “failed record. President Obama can't run from the facts. As a result of his handling of the auto bailout, American taxpayers stand to lose $25 billion and GM and Chrysler are expanding their production overseas,” said Chris Maloney, Romney for President spokesman. “Unlike President Obama, Mitt Romney has a comprehensive plan to revive manufacturing, create millions of good-paying jobs, and deliver real change and a real recovery.”
Romney's ads were among the lines of attack advanced at a stop earlier in the day by Obama campaign surrogates visiting the campaign’s Niles office. The stop by the “Gotta Vote” bus tour featured Democratic strategist Valerie Jarrett and Strickland’s wife, Frances.
“It’s been stunning to see” what Romney “has been willing to do to try to win” Ohio, “ to put up ads on television that are absolutely deceitful, to be called on it by both car companies that he’s misrepresenting the facts and then continue to have those ads on television,” Jarrett said.
“Trust is important. You can trust President Obama,” she said.
Strickland recalled how her husband, Ohio governor from 2007 to 2011, “lived through those terrible years when the recession first hit and he knows exactly what the president did,” she said.
“You all probably know as well as anybody in this state what he did for the automobile industry and that’s why it should be irritating and aggravating” what the Romney ads are saying, Strickland said.
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-17 Ohio, who introduced Jarrett, predicted voter backlash against Romney over the auto issue. “I think it really defines him as a person who will say absolutely anything to get elected,” he said. “I will not be surprised to see President Obama’s numbers tick up over the course of the next couple of days as the new round of polling comes out this weekend.”
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.