Obama launches $25M swing-state ad blitz
President Obama's reelection campaign has begun a $25 million TV ad campaign in nine swing states, including Pennsylvania. Core argument: Hey, we're doing better. Remember how bad it was before Obama took office?
Obama launches $25M swing-state ad blitz
Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer
The Obama campaign Monday announced a $25 million television ad buy in nine battleground states, including Pennsylvania, to air a spot aimed at reminding voters what the president has accomplished despite taking office in deep economic crisis.
“We’re not letting our foot off the pedal,” campaign manager Jim Messina said in a conference call with reporters Monday morning. “We have a very simple choice between going forward and going back.”
Messina and senior adviser David Axelrod said that the spot, called “Go,” is part of broader effort to set administration achievements in the context of Obama’s having inherited the worst recession since the Great Depression and two wars. The ad emphasizes the auto-industry bailout, successfully ending the Iraq war and winding down the war in Afghanistan, and modest growth in jobs, while acknowledging that the economy is “still too hard for too many.”
Axelrod said that the ad contrasts with Republican Mitt Romney’s efforts to blame continuing economic problems on the administration without offering a believable alternative plan for turning things around. Instead, Romney has smothered opponents with negative ads.
“We’re in a different place,” Axelrod said. “We’re fighting through. There are still significant headwinds.” Messina said that Romney acts as if “world history began” when Obama was inaugurated in January 2009.
On the contrary, President Obama does not want to accept responsibility for the failures of his policies, said Amanda Henneberg, spokeswoman for the Romney campaign.
“After a doubling of gas prices, declining incomes, millions of foreclosures, and record levels of unemployment, Americans know they’re not better off than they were four years ago,” Henneberg said. “Mitt Romney’s pro-growth agenda will get America back on track and stop the middle-class squeeze of the Obama economy.”
The Obama spot is also airing in Ohio, Nevada, New Hampshire, Iowa, North Carolina, Florida and Colorado.
Axelrod told reporters that the Obama re-elect is prepared to counter attacks from Romney and added that the campaign would treat ads from independent super PACS supporting the Republican as if they came from the candidate himself. Axelrod mocked the Koch brothers, conservative billionaires who have financed several anti-Obama groups as “contract killers over there in super PAC land who are going to continue to pound away on behalf of Gov. Romney.”
The Obama campaign has also run some negative ads against Romney, including one recently in Ohio, Virginia and Iowa that mentioned his “Swiss bank account” and intimated he got rich by buying and chopping up countries, shipping jobs overseas.
Here is the new Obama “Go” ad:
More like:
HYPE & BLAME 2012— FocusTruthFully- @dross- Well.. uh nevermind. I don't even know where to start with you.— Wiseman6
Comment removed.- @ verve, what part was made worse? You need to get your eyeglasses checked.
@ crash, so what about bundling? How else does one fight a pack of liars like Karl Rove, the Koch Brothers and Mitt "vulture captialist" Romney coupled with some lemmings, or fake light in the pocket Republicans like you?
@ wiseman, start with this. Don't blame me that your candidate is an empty suit, serial liar, and loser. Gingrich called Mitt out for what he is a career politician. Where has your man lead? Sucked the life out of companies, lining his pockets, and leaving the employees and localities holding the bag. As a public employee, a record performance of 47 out of 50 states in job creation. Plus, a so called olympic savior whose performance was propped up with tax dollars for infrastructure. Oh my bad, he lead on Romneycare which is the same thing as Obamacare. That is worth a little something! Yeah, Obama can lead. Obama led us out of Iraq and pulled this economy out the ditch that Bush, Cheney, Bachmann, Cantor, Boehner, and McConnell put it in.
@ banned, remember, electoral votes count. Now do that math!
@ focus, Hype and Blame 2012 sounds like Willard Mitt to me!— dross - Comment removed.
- Why did Obama let Omar Hassan al-Bashir off for the genocide in Darfur Sudan? Why didn't he continue to carry out the sanctions he declared before the UN?— FocusTruthFully
- During Obama's term as Senator he reamed out Bush for the high gas prices. Now as president, with gas prices more than doubled Obama claims he has no control over the gas prices.
Why didn't he sign the Keystone XL, which would help ease future demands.— FocusTruthFully - What happened to Obama's promise of televised negotiations on C-SPAN regarding the healthcare reform?— FocusTruthFully
- The 2008 Obama campaign described union contributions to Clinton and John Edwards as "special interest" money. Now he whole heartedly accepts and encourages such support.— FocusTruthFully
You can reach Tom Fitzgerald at 215-854-2718 or tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.
Reach Thomas at tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.
