Obama Campaign Launching New Advertising Campaign This Week

Obama to Hit Reset Button on Campaign in Ohio

Jun 142012

JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/GettyImages(WASHINGTON) — President Obama will use a speech in Ohio on Thursday to hit a reset button on his re-election campaign, following a stretch of bad economic news and messaging missteps that have shaken Democrats’ confidence and caused some allies to sound the alarm.

At a community college outside Cleveland, Obama will seek to frame the economic debate with presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney, casting the November election as a stark choice rather than a referendum on his record. He will also warn that a President Romney would doom the middle class.

“Gov. Romney and his allies in Congress believe that if you simply take away regulations and cut taxes by trillions of dollars, the market will solve all our problems on its own,” said a campaign official describing the arc of Obama’s speech. “The president believes the economy grows not from the top down, but from the middle class up, and he has an economic plan to do that.”

It’s a case that Obama has been pushing for weeks in smaller campaign appearances with donors and grassroots volunteers. But he’s now under pressure to articulate it more convincingly and broadly, as polls show a tightening race headed into the summer with many swing voters still making up their minds about the Republican nominee.

“You’ve got to be able to say, ‘we’ve saved you from the abyss and we’re moving incrementally forward,’” said a strategist affiliated with the Obama campaign. The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, conceded, “That’s just a tough message but it happens to be the environment you’re in.”

“You’ve also got to take this period to help educate the American public as to who is this guy; let’s fill in the blanks,” the strategist said.

Some Democrats, pointing to recent focus groups and polling data, worried publicly this week that Obama’s pitch on progress in the economy isn’t resonating with voters in key states, leaving him politically vulnerable and at risk of appearing out of touch. There are also concerns in some circles that attacks on Romney’s record in private equity and as governor are not sticking well enough.

White House and campaign officials insist that their game plan is working and will succeed over the long haul. They frequently note that the president has high public opinion ratings on empathy with Americans who are struggling financially. And they say he has presented detailed legislative proposals that would immediately put more workers back on the job.

“The problem here isn’t the president’s campaign staff and message he’s put together, it’s the economy that he inherited and is working hard to fix,” said former White House aide and senior Priorities USA strategist Bill Burton.

Obama, Dems Raise $43.6 Million in April

May 162012

JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — President Obama’s reelection campaign raised $43.6 million in April, the campaign announced Wednesday morning.

That’s down from the $53 million raised in March — the Obama camp’s best fundraising month of the cycle — but well above the $31 million Obama raised the same month four years ago.

The total reflects funds collected directly by Obama for America, the Democratic National Committee and two joint fundraising accounts. Combined, they have now raised nearly $400 million total for the 2012 campaign — on pace to hit their record-setting $746 million from 2008.

In a video posted online Wednesday, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina says more than 437,000 supporters donated last month, 169,500 of them giving for the first time.

He also points out that 98 percent of the donations received in April were less than $250, with the average donation being $50.23.

Mixed Views on Three Key Issues Mark Obama’s Campaign Challenges

May 112012

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Americans give President Obama mixed marks on three prominent issues he’s touted in his bid for re-election in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, with no scores above 50 percent on either the auto industry bailout, greater regulation of financial institutions or — most basic — the administration’s economic stimulus program.

Middling ratings on each of these denote some of the president’s challenges in the campaign now officially under way. While he’s substantially more popular personally than the presumptive Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, Obama is vulnerable on key issues.

The poll finds that Americans divide almost exactly evenly on the administration’s economic stimulus program, with 47 percent seeing it favorably overall, 48 percent unfavorably.

It’s a bit better for Obama on the auto industry loans, 50-43 percent, and financial industry regulation, 49-44 percent.

But none of these reaches majority favorability — and the intensity of sentiment on the stimulus is much more strongly negative than positive.

Obama has cited his performance on these issues, among others, in making his case for re-election. But this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates, finds responses sharply divided by political allegiance and ideological preference.

In likely the president’s biggest risk, independents rate the economic stimulus negatively by 50-44 percent. They’re less negative (indeed slightly positive) on the automaker loans and regulation of financial institutions, but it’s the economy that dominates voter concerns.

Political independents are the key swing voters in national elections, and at 41 percent of the population, they outnumber Democrats and Republicans alike in this survey, 33 and 23 percent, respectively.

Among partisans, anywhere from 66 to 74 percent of Democrats and liberals have positive views of Obama’s work on these issues, compared with a paltry 16 to 26 percent of Republicans and 24 to 35 percent of conservatives. Moderates are more positive than negative on all three, but again most closely on the economic stimulus.

As noted, intensity of sentiment on the stimulus is against the president: Among all Americans, many more rate the economic stimulus strongly unfavorably, 31 percent, as strongly favorably, 18 percent. It’s a similar 31 vs. 15 percent among independents. Strong sentiment on the automaker loans and financial industry regulations is more evenly divided.

Obama Swing State Ad Touts First-Term Record

May 072012

JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The Obama campaign is going on the air in nine battleground states this week with a new TV ad that focuses solely on the president’s record and the four accomplishments of which Democrats are most proud.

The entirely positive spot — titled “Go” — is the first attempt by President Obama to encapsulate his three and a half years in office and use it as a second-term sales pitch in targeted markets.

“We’re certainly running on our record,” senior Obama strategist David Axelrod said of the ad in an interview Sunday on ABC’s This Week.

In just 60 seconds, the ad reminds viewers of the economic crisis Obama inherited in early 2009 — “America’s economy spiraling down,” the narrator says — and strives to portray Obama as the nation’s rescuer — “He believed in us. Fought for us.”

The ad touts the resurgence of the U.S. auto industry, killing of Osama bin Laden, end of the Iraq War and a positive trend in private sector job growth as the signature achievements of Obama’s first term.

It notably does not mention his signature legislative achievement — the Affordable Care Act — or Wall Street reform.

“We’re not there yet. It’s still too hard for too many. But we’re coming back,” the narrator says, “because America’s greatness comes from a strong middle class. Because you don’t quit, and neither does he.”

Obama campaign officials said the ad will air in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia — a list that offers fresh insight into the states the president is making his top priority for November.

Of the five multi-state TV ads aired by the Obama campaign this year — including the latest, “Go” — four have included Iowa, Ohio and Virginia.

Obama officially kicked off his re-election campaign with rallies in Ohio and Virginia on Saturday, and he has visited Colorado, Florida and North Carolina within the last month. The president stops in Nevada this week. And while he hasn’t been to Pennsylvania this year, Vice President Joe Biden has visited three times, while first lady Michelle Obama has visited twice.

Obama Campaign Launching New Advertising Campaign This Week

May 072012

ABC News(WASHINGTON) — President Obama’s senior campaign adviser David Axelrod said Sunday morning on ABC’s This Week that the Obama campaign would unveil this week an advertising campaign focused on the president’s accomplishments.

“You’ll see us unveil an advertising campaign, an extensive advertising campaign, that is very much about where we were and where we’ve come and the things that we’ve accomplished, the revitalization of the auto industry, the distance we’ve traveled from when we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, the fact that we’re safer today because bin Laden is gone, that the war in Iraq is over, and — and many other things that we’re proud of and that speak to the progress that we’ve made since this president was elected,” said Axelrod.

Axelrod made the announcement after he was asked when the campaign would start running advertisements about the president’s record as opposed to the attack advertisements that have dominated the news as of late.

“We’re certainly running on our record,” he said.

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