President Barack Obama's re-election campaign rolled out a new attack ad against Mitt Romney on Tuesday, continuing to target the Republican presidential candidate's record as governor of Massachusetts.
The ad is another example of the ramping-up of the 2012 presidential campaign as well as another sign of Obama's reluctance to wait until after the presidential conventions to start punching at his now-certain opponent.
Titled "Number One," the ad claims that Massachusetts added $2.6 billion to the state debt under Romney, making it number one in debt per capita of any U.S. state. Meanwhile, the ad says, the state fell to the third-worst job-creation record in the country.
"As president, Romney has promised to do the same thing. He'll explode the deficit with $5 trillion in tax breaks weighted to millionaires and billionaires that he refuses to say how he'll pay for and do nothing to grow our economy," the campaign said in a statement.
The statement added, "America can't afford the same results. The bottom line is simple - Romney Economics didn't work then, and it won't work now."
The campaign went on to say that Obama has a "balanced and detailed plan" to cut the deficit while maintaining investments.
The ad is airing in the battleground states of Colorado, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Obama has a slim, 1.9-point advantage over Romney in the latest polling average compiled by RealClearPolitics. On the electoral college map, Obama has an advantage of 221-170, with 147 votes counted as toss-ups - enough to swing the election either way.
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