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Why are the presidential candidates spending so much time raising so much money? To buy TV ads. Which ones succeed? Which fail? In Ad Watch, we review them as they come out. Today: President Obama and the Koch brothers-backed group Americans for Prosperity fight over who understands the little guy best, while a conservative women's group gently condemns Obamacare without speaking its name.
The Ad: Barack Obama, "Come and Go"
The Issues: Jobs and Mitt Romney's ability to create them.
The Message: Romney's 2002 campaign for Massachusetts governor had the "exact same pitch" as his current presidential campaign: That he knows how to create jobs. "But as a corporate raider he shipped jobs to China and Mexico. As governor, he did the same thing: outsourcing state jobs to India." Another ad, "Mosaic," says that as Massachusetts governor, Romney cut taxes for millionaires but raised taxes for regular people.
Who'll See It: TV viewers in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Who It's For: This ad ties together several Obama campaign themes: that at Bain Capital, Romney closed factories in an unprincipled way, that that Bain experience matters because Romney did the same thing as governor, and that Romney's campaign promise to cut jobs shouldn't be trusted. So while it's mostly aimed at changing the minds of the plurality of voters who think Romney has better ideas to fix the economy, it's also a justification for Bain attacks. Note how one still image of Romney shows him in front of a building with "EXECUTIVE" in gold letters, as seen above.