Mitt Romney knew his past at private equity firm Bain Capital would come under assault in the general election, as it did during the primary campaign. And now, with Romney the GOP’s presumptive nominee, the attacks have begun.
President Obama’s campaign is out with two new, hard-hitting television ads blasting Bain’s role in the 2001 bankruptcy of GST Steel in Kansas City, Missouri. As Reuters reported, Bain invested in GST in the early 1990s when Mitt was at the helm, only for the deal to collapse, the mill to close, and 750 workers to lose their jobs. GST’s bankruptcy is often spotlighted by Romney’s critics as evidence that he’s a cutthroat capitalist willing to fire workers to pad his own pockets.
The new Obama ads—one runs for two minutes, the other for six—feature a handful of steelworkers ripping Romney as a “vampire” who “came in and sucked the life out of us.” Says one steelworker, “We view Mitt Romney as a job destroyer.” Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in a statement responding to the ads: “We welcome the Obama campaign’s attempt to pivot back to jobs and a discussion of their failed record. Mitt Romney helped create more jobs in his private sector experience and more jobs as governor of Massachusetts than President Obama has for the entire nation.”
The two-minute ad will run in battleground states Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Colorado.
Here are the two ads:
The campaign also launched a new website, RomneyEconomics.com, highlighting three Bain deals that resulted in bankruptcies or layoffs. Consider the new ads and the website a preview of things to come.