Mitt Romney's campaign on Wednesday unveiled a new television ad highlighting the GOP nominee’s attacks on President Obama’s economic record during the second presidential debate.
The 30-second spot, titled “The Choice,” features footage from the Tuesday debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., with Romney charging the administration with weakening the middle class and undermining the future of Medicare and Social Security.
"His policies haven't worked. Median income is down $4,300 a family and 23 million Americans out of work … He said that he'd cut in half the deficit … He just hasn't been able to put in place reforms for Medicare and Social Security to preserve them,” says Romney in the ad. “That's what this election is about. It's about who can get the middle class in this country a bright and prosperous future and assure our kids the kind of hope and optimism they deserve."
The Obama campaign accused Romney of "grasping at straws" with the new ad and hit back at his attacks, claiming that the GOP hopeful wants to "turn Medicare into a voucher program and could cut Social Security benefits for future retirees."
“As the president said last night, Romney the corporate buyout specialist would never invest in the sketchy deal he’s pitching today — $5 trillion in tax cuts favoring the wealthy and $2 trillion in new military spending the Pentagon didn’t ask for, with no plan to pay for it,” responded Obama campaign spokesman Danny Kanner in a statement.
“Because he was exposed last night as condescending toward women, extreme on issues important to the Hispanic community, ill-prepared to be commander in chief, disdainfully dismissive of 47 percent of the country and evasive about his top-down economic policies, Romney’s now grasping at straws — and losing ones at that," Kanner continued.
The second of three presidential debates was a town-hall setting, with the candidates answering questions from undecided voters.
Of the 11 questions, four were focused on the economy, which polls say is the top issue for most voters.
Early polls gave President Obama the edge in the debate, with a CBS News survey finding that 37 percent believe Obama won, to 30 percent for Romney. That same poll, however, gave Romney an advantage on economic issues, with 65 percent favoring him to 34 for Obama.
Romney’s campaign has made the president’s spending a focus of its attacks this week, with the GOP hopeful slated to deliver a major address on the deficit this Friday.
