High Stakes in Romney-Obama Battle Over Bain, Economy
President Obama’s Chicago-based campaign team has been waiting months to launch a real attack against Mitt Romney’s experience at Bain Capital. Even before Romney’s Republican rivals started going after him, Obama’s team was preparing for the moment that arrived this week.
There is no mystery to the strategy underway here: define Romney before he can fully pivot to the general election electorate after a nomination battle that went on longer than expected and that kept the presumptive nominee pinned to the right of the political spectrum as he fought off more conservative challengers.
Through closing elevator doors, the former president told a reporter Tuesday that the presumptive GOP nominee has his support.
In Chicago and the West Wing, Obama advisers believe attacks on Romney’s record in both private business and state government could disqualify the former governor in the eyes of voters who will decide the outcome in November. Though the initial Obama campaign ad will run in just a few markets in a few states, the Obama-backed super PAC will amplify the message with an advertisement of its own on the same theme. No doubt there is much more coming from both.
In Boston, Romney advisers believe they see a bit of panic in their rival’s moves. They believe the softness of the economy, the slow pace of job creation and the pain still felt by the unemployed and underemployed imperil the Obama’s chances for reelection — a view shared by analysts not attached to Romney’s campaign. They further believe that the political cognoscenti undervalue Romney as a candidate and therefore his chances of winning.