(CBS News) The Obama campaign has created its first ad that highlights Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's controversial comments, caught on camera at a closed-door fundraiser earlier this year, disparaging the 47 percent of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes.
The ad will begin airing Monday in the battleground state of Ohio, and Obama campaign officials say they may air it in other states in the coming days. Governor Romney embarks on a bus tour in Ohio on Wednesday.
In the ad, a male narrator starts by saying, "Mitt Romney attacked 47 percent of Americans who pay no income tax -- including veterans, elderly, the disabled."
The ad then shows a short clip of Romney telling donors at a $50,000-a-head fundraiser in Boca Raton, Florida: "My job is not to worry about those people."
"Doesn't the President have to worry about everyone?" the narrator then asks. "Mitt Romney paid just 14.1% in taxes last year...He keeps millions in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands...He won't release his tax returns before 2010. Maybe instead of attacking others on taxes, Romney should come clean on his."
The Obama campaign played it coy with reporters this week when asked whether it would be featuring Romney's caught-on-camera comments in campaign advertising, and now that the ad has been drawn up, the campaign won't say how large the ad buy is - in other words, how often the ad will be airing.
Priorities USA Action, the Democratic super PAC, has released its own ad featuring Romney's comments in Boca Raton, and that ad is going into rotation in six battleground states.
In response for a request for comment about the ad, Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul said: "President Obama's tax increases on middle class families will not make the next four years any better than the last four. Under President Obama's failed leadership, 23 million Americans are struggling for work with 46 million Americans on food stamps and more people in poverty than ever before. Mitt Romney has a plan for a stronger middle class that will lower tax rates across the board and jumpstart economic growth creating 12 million jobs."
Nancy Cordes is CBS News' chief White House correspondent based in Washington, D.C. Cordes has won numerous awards for her reporting, including multiple Emmys, Edward R. Murrow awards, and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award.
Obama campaign releases first ad highlighting Romney's closed-door comments
By Nancy Cordes
/ CBS News
(CBS News) The Obama campaign has created its first ad that highlights Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's controversial comments, caught on camera at a closed-door fundraiser earlier this year, disparaging the 47 percent of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes.
The ad will begin airing Monday in the battleground state of Ohio, and Obama campaign officials say they may air it in other states in the coming days. Governor Romney embarks on a bus tour in Ohio on Wednesday.
In the ad, a male narrator starts by saying, "Mitt Romney attacked 47 percent of Americans who pay no income tax -- including veterans, elderly, the disabled."
The ad then shows a short clip of Romney telling donors at a $50,000-a-head fundraiser in Boca Raton, Florida: "My job is not to worry about those people."
"Doesn't the President have to worry about everyone?" the narrator then asks. "Mitt Romney paid just 14.1% in taxes last year...He keeps millions in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands...He won't release his tax returns before 2010. Maybe instead of attacking others on taxes, Romney should come clean on his."
Complete coverage: Election 2012The Obama campaign played it coy with reporters this week when asked whether it would be featuring Romney's caught-on-camera comments in campaign advertising, and now that the ad has been drawn up, the campaign won't say how large the ad buy is - in other words, how often the ad will be airing.
Priorities USA Action, the Democratic super PAC, has released its own ad featuring Romney's comments in Boca Raton, and that ad is going into rotation in six battleground states.
In response for a request for comment about the ad, Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul said: "President Obama's tax increases on middle class families will not make the next four years any better than the last four. Under President Obama's failed leadership, 23 million Americans are struggling for work with 46 million Americans on food stamps and more people in poverty than ever before. Mitt Romney has a plan for a stronger middle class that will lower tax rates across the board and jumpstart economic growth creating 12 million jobs."
Nancy Cordes is CBS News' chief White House correspondent based in Washington, D.C. Cordes has won numerous awards for her reporting, including multiple Emmys, Edward R. Murrow awards, and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award.
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