President Barack Obama's re-election campaign released a new web video Thursday criticizing Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's economic policies as governor of Massachusetts.
The four minute long video focuses wholly on Romney's promises to reduce debt and the size of government, lower taxes and create jobs.
"Mitt Romney has consistently claimed that his business experience taught him lessons that will result in economic growth for the country," an Obama for America (OFA) press release sent Thursday read.
"But Romney Economics actually resulted in slower job creation, more debt, bigger government and cuts to programs essential to the middle class," the release added. "It didn't work then, and it won't work now."
Obama advisor David Axelrod also spent the day in Boston, Mass., hitting home the ad's message that Romney Economics will not work for America. However, Axelrod's message was almost lost in a barrage of taunts from Romney supporters in the crowd.
"The principle there is to maximize your profit for yourself and your investors. There are a lot of jobs destroyed in that process," Axelrod said, referencing Romney's business past as hecklers shouted "Axel-fraud" and "Obama doesn't work."
"It's not a prescription for leadership, as we saw in Massachusetts," Axelrod added.
The Romney campaign quickly fought the allegations, stating "This is another desperate attack from President Obama because he has no positive record to run on. Mitt Romney created more jobs in the state of Massachusetts than President Obama has for the entire nation."
Romney has consistently polled evenly with or better than the president on economic policy. A recent ABC-Washington Post poll showed the two men in a dead heat on the economy, while even traditionally liberal voters in California are split 41-41 on who has a better overall spending policy, according to a USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll released this week.
The Obama campaign is hoping to hit Romney on what has been one of his strengths - his business experience and focus on the economic plight of the country. By hitting back on Romney's record in Massachusetts on debt, government size, taxes and jobs, OFA hopes to show Romney is "making the same promises he made when he ran for governor."
The video released Thursday features Democratic mayors and lawmakers criticizing Romney for not keeping his promises on economic issues and leading the state down a road to further debt, fewer jobs and more fees.
"Massachusetts growth stopped. Companies stopped coming," former Brockton, Mass., mayor Jack Yunits says in the video. "New jobs were not being created."
"Wages dropped five percent his first two year, which really had a very negative effect on Massachusetts," Melrose, Mass., Mayor Rob Dolan said.
"By the time Romney left office, we were 47th in the nation in terms of job growth," State Rep. for the 15th Suffolk/Norfolk District Jeffrey Sanchez added.
The Tampa Bay Times' Pulitzer Winning PolitiFact.com said this last fact is only a "half truth."
"Indeed, federal jobs numbers indicate that, no matter how we sliced the data, the state was 47th," the site affirmed. "But we found little evidence to support the other part of [OFA's] claim, that Romney is responsible for those jobs numbers."
But most pundits do agree Romney did not fully keep his promise to not increase taxes. While Romney did cut taxes while in office, he raised fees on burials, wedding, and motor vehicles services, costing each average Massachusetts citizen over $1,000 a year extra. The video also noted that government sector jobs rose more than private sector jobs.
Romney's bio section on his campaign website, while not going into detail, also denies these facts, stating Romney "eliminated a $3 billion deficit without borrowing or raising taxes. By 2007, at the end of Mitt's term, the state had accumulated a $2 billion rainy day fund in its coffers."
The Obama ad ends by encouraging viewers to go to RomneyEconomics.com, a website with more in depth figures on Romney's gubernatorial policies as they pertain to debt, government size, jobs and taxes.
by RTT Staff Writer
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