http://youtu.be/RWC4t4xQTas
Update: The ad above will be the one to air in Pa. It focuses on President Obama’s stance on coal. It also dovetails nicely into Tom Smith’s latest ad.
The ad’s focus means that Romney’s campaign is likely to aim its ads at western Pa., rather than the expensive Philadelphia market where coal doesn’t move numbers.
Mitt Romney’s television ads will soon be on television in Pennsylvania, his campaign confirmed Tuesday.
“As the Romney-Ryan message continues to resonate and GOP momentum continues to build, we are adding Pennsylvania to the long list of states where we are expending significant resources in order to bring real recovery to the country, while continuing to implement and fund full-scale efforts in all the target states,” wrote Romney Political Director Rich Beeson in a memo.
Details – including the specific size of the buy – haven’t been announced. But the move follows other last-minute action in Pa. from two GOP super PACs, Restore Our Future and Americans for Job Security, which will spend a combined $3.2 million here.
Karl Rove, whose super PAC Crossroads GPS has been a significant player nationally, is also looking at a Pa. buy he said Tuesday.
The Obama campaign said it would match the $3.2 million already announced GOP spending, and PoliticsPA is seeking a response to the Romney announcement.
However, it looks like Republicans are less interested in actually winning Pa. than they are in forcing President Obama’s campaign to spread its resources.
“The Romney campaign has the resources to expand the map in ways that weren’t possible in past cycles (without reducing any effort in any other target state),” Beeson said.
“While the Obama campaign would like to wish it is 2008, the reality is that they are now forced to ‘play defense’ in least six states (Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Colorado, New Hampshire, Iowa and Wisconsin) that they once believed were ‘safe’ Obama wins.”
He also noted that Romney is poised to overperform past Republican presidential hopefuls in southeast Pa. and western Pa. and that the GOP’s success in 2010 puts the state in play.
Beeson cited remarks by Pa. Governor-turned-pundit Ed Rendell that Pa. could be a surprise win for Romney. President Obama’s campaign sent around a quote by Rendell saying that isn’t so:
“Let me make myself clear: President Obama will win Pennsylvania, and Mitt Romney’s attempt to make a play for this state is more of a sign of desperation on his part than anything else. This is part of the old Republican playbook. They tried a last ditch attempt to expand the electoral base in 2008 when they were losing Ohio, Iowa, Florida and other traditional battleground states. Mitt Romney ignored Pennsylvania over the course of the last two years, and didn’t ask Pennsylvanians for their vote. A week of advertising won’t change that.”
And Desiree Peterkin Bell, Obama’s Senior Advisor for Communications in Pa., called the ad desperate.
“The Romney campaign’s new ad in Pennsylvania distorts the President’s record and reeks of desperation. Under President Obama’s leadership, employment in coal mining hit a 15 year high in 2011 while he’s making historic investments in clean coal research and development. But, as governor Mitt Romney said a coal-fired plant ‘kills people’ and touted his power plant regulations as the ‘toughest in the nation,'” she said.
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11 Responses
538 says Obama has a 93 percent chance of winning the keystone state. The only purpose of these commercials on coal is to bleed into the Buckeye State.
Political campaigns do not spend money on media in states willy nilly or on a whim. If Romney is spending any money in PA at all, it means that PA is in play PERIOD. Their internals must show that they are even or slightly head. We have been waiting to see if anyone would come in on behalf on Romney because this would clearly demonstrate how close the contest in PA is….they now have and it is.
The coal industry is dying and it has nothing to do with politics, it is economics. The abundance of natural gas makes it a cheaper alternative for elctric generation plants. There are many places in PA where people are happy coal production is going down. people in the Philly area aren’t pro-coal.
Also Marcia, Casey is for the keystone pipeline.
Tom Smith has been doing the heavy-lifting for Romney in PA. The Leftists completely underestimated his tenacity and ability to connect with working people. People just shake their heads in disbelief when Obama and his surrogates, including Casey (Senator Zero), stop the Keystone Pipeline, and shutter coal generating stations, all for unknown reasons. They know their jobs could be in jeopardy with another 4 years of Obama. Smith and Romney are underdogs, but they are closing strong and hitting their stride at the right time.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/oct/16/barack-obama/obama-says-romney-once-said-coal-burning-plant-kil/
Romney anti-coal flip flopper
If they seriously thought that this state was in play, they would have done this much earlier. It’s a case of too little, too late.
When you’re desperate, and they are, you try to swing wildly and knock one out of the park. The odds of that happening are minute.
The stay on the Voter ID law clinched the state for Obama as they could not suppress the Philly vote.
Energy Independence is not gained by closing mines and demonizing hydraulic fracturing drilling for natural gas.
There is a seismic shift among southwest Pennsylvania voters.
READ MORE
Pennsylvania’s Coal Region Going Romney. Obama’s Policies threaten coal mining industry and coal miners’ jobs. October 28, 2012 Andrew Maykuth, Inquirer Staff Writer
http://articles.philly.com/2012-10-28/business/34778960_1_coal-region-coal-industry-umwa
Note younger workers like Romney.
Voters under 40 know that Social Security Won’t be there for them. Everyone knows that Social Security and Medicare are unaffordable for The Forgotten Taxpayer and are siphoning productive money that create goods, services and taxes to government programs. More money for government means lower standard of living.
Amazingly, according to MSNBC during its 3 p.m. “Cycle” show, this is being aired in PHILLY!
I’ve long thought that the coal issue would resonate well in Ohio and Western PA, but a patient of mine reported [having returned from a cable-wiring task in W.Va.] that Obama is arguing [unbelievably] that Romney’s support for fracking is @ the expense of coal.”
My guess is that this is going to run statewide, inasmuch as the “all of the above”-concept will be worth recalling throughout the Commonwealth; that it will run in Philly is HUGE, because it suggests mega-bucks will be expended for the collar-counties..
These ads are focused on western Pennsylvania to bleed over into Ohio media markets because there is no ad time left in Ohio. PA is not in play.
Because Obama didn’t have to spend money in PA? Saul, you are dead wrong. He spent quite a bit here in 2008. Romney hasn’t had to because his SuperPAC friends have been spending enough on their own to tear Obama down. He is trying to come in for the kill. Focus on the word trying.
Rendell is turning into that crazy uncle everyone invites to the party but doesn’t actually listen to.
This article hit it on the head. Obama’s campaign is being forced to spend money in states it didn’t have to in 2008 and that has them running scared. Why has Obama been running ads in PA for the last 2 weeks? He is scared…