POLS210 Forum

DEMOCRAT BARACK OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT JOSEPH BIDEN FOR VICE PRESIDENT The Obama campaign spent most of its advertising money trying to define Republican challenger Mitt Romney as a callous multi-millionaire whose policies favor the wealthy over the middle class. While the campaign has produced positive ads touting the president’s successes, this was clearly not a “Morning in America” re-election campaign; the focus was primarily on attacking the challenger. REPUBLICAN MITT ROMNEY FOR PRESIDENT PAUL RYAN FOR VICE PRESIDENT The Romney campaign tried to define the Obama presidency as a failure, citing high unemployment, rising deficits, and higher gas prices. It tried to capitalize on the comment “you didn’t build that” by President Obama, made during a speech, attempting to portray the president as favoring big government over private enterprise. This line of attack didn't make much of a dent in Obama's popularity, its impact weakened by the wide circulation of a video recording of Romney saying that he didn't care about 47% of the population, who were destined to vote for Obama.