New Romney ads tailored for must-win states
The Romney campaign today released three new ads, with two targeting specific battleground states.
In an ad targeted at Ohio voters, Mitt Romney talks directly into the camera while soft music plays in the background.
"The question Ohio families are asking is who can bring back the jobs?" he says. "Under President Obama, we've lost over half a million manufacturing jobs, and China has passed us in manufacturing."
The Republican candidate touts his "detailed" plan to create 12 million jobs, which includes producing energy in Ohio, and promises to stand up to China.
Ohio's 18 electoral votes have certainly been part of Romney's preferred path to victory, but polls there show he has an uphill battle there. A recent Quinnipiac/CBS News/NYT Times poll showed President Obama with a 10-point lead there, after a series of other polls gave Mr. Obama a lead there, Ohio now appears to be leaning blue.
Romney can win without Ohio, but that would make a handful of other swing states much more critical, including Nevada. Recent polls have shown that Mr. Obama has a slight edge there as well, in part because of strong support among Hispanic and women voters.
In Romney's second ad out today, he relies on former professional basketball player Greg Anthony to help him appeal to Nevada voters. Anthony is known in Nevada for playing at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas in addition to playing in the NBA.
"I voted for Barack Obama, thought he'd be a centrist," Anthony says in the ad. "I really lost faith in him. I'm supporting Mitt Romney--he's a no-excuse kind of guy. And I think over the last four years we've heard enough excuses. I just don't believe we can afford four more years like the last four years."
In a third, more generic ad, the campaign slams the president for the increasing federal debt.
"He's not just wasting money -- he's borrowing it, and then wasting it," a narrator says over ominous music. "We can't afford four more years."
