Obama campaign launches swing-state radio ads blasting Romney-Ryan budget

The Obama campaign is poised to release a set of seven radio ads Monday across the major swing states, each hitting the Romney campaign on how its budget would affect voters.

"From letting the housing market hit rock bottom to turning Medicare into a voucher system and slashing investments in education, the Romney-Ryan approach is consistent with their belief in a top-down economy — provide trillions in tax cuts to those at the top and pay for it with tax hikes on the middle class and deep cuts in key investments we need to create jobs and grow our economy," said Obama spokesman Adam Fetcher in a statement.

Each ad is tailored to voters in the swing state where it will air. For instance, in Florida, voters will hear an attack on the Republican Medicare voucher proposal, while Iowans will hear an ad critical of Romney's declaration that he would stop subsidizing the state's booming wind energy program. Virginia's ad targets roads and infrastructure — of particular concern in the congested and Democratic-leaning Washington, D.C., suburbs — while North Carolina ads focus on veterans' benefits.

In New Hampshire and Ohio, ads focus on proposed cuts to Pell Grants, detailing how many college students in each state would feel the effects of the cuts. In Nevada, where the housing market was rocked by the financial crisis, the ad claims that in the House, Ryan voted against a bill that would protect service members from foreclosure.

The radio ads are the campaign's latest push in an unrelenting attack on Republican budget proposals since Ryan's addition to the ticket. On Saturday, the president blasted the GOP plan during a campaign stop in New Hampshire.

"Gov. Romney and Congressman Ryan will be here in New Hampshire on Monday, so you can tell them if you think this is fair," Obama said. "And you should ask them, how do you think that’s going to grow the economy again? How is that going to strengthen the middle class? Look, we have tried this kind of trickle-down snake oil before."
 
But campaigning in Florida on Saturday, Ryan insisted that the Republican budget proposal made the cuts necessary to preserve the country's long-term financial health.

“You have to reform it for my generation so it doesn’t go bankrupt when we want to retire," Ryan said, speaking of Medicare. “We want this debate; we need this debate.”

And Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg accused the president of attempting to distract from his economic record.

“No amount of misleading, distorted ads can cover up President Obama’s failure to keep his promises," Henneberg said in an email. "President Obama hopes voters will ignore his record of cutting $700 billion from Medicare, gutting work requirements in welfare, and failing to create jobs for the 23 million Americans struggling for work. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have a plan for a stronger middle class that will bring back jobs and get our country back on the right track.”

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