"Let Detroit go bankrupt." Even as the tape of Mitt Romney dismissing 47% of Americans continues to damage his campaign, this headline on Romney's earlier NY Times op-ed essay continues to have a devastating effect on his campaign.
Michigan, a state George W. Bush and John Kerry battled for down to the wire in 2004, has never seriously been a contested state in this election. And now Ohio is slipping away from Romney's grasp in no small part due to the state's auto industry.
Why? In a state saturated with political advertising, automobile ads are getting a message across that Romney does not welcome. More below the fold.
As Yahoo's Walter Shapiro notes, the Columbus market is absolutely saturated with negative political ads. No doubt the rest of the state is as well; I remember weeks in 2004 and 2008 where just about every single ad on television was for or (usually) against a candidate. I remember doing what viewers are doing now -- tuning out. At a certain point, viewers become immune from any effects of additional ads. Advertisers note that this is when advertising reaches saturation. But the saturation of political ads does not prevent ads for other goods and services from breaking through.
...in a state with more than 800,000 jobs tied to the auto industry, it is also the car commercials that pose a continuing challenge to Romney. Without ever mentioning Obama or the auto bailout, the continuing message on Columbus television is that American-made cars are back. “Lease the Ohio-built Cruze,” is the message in one Chevy ad and a few minutes later a frenetic Honda pitchman asks, “Why get the 2012 model when you can have the 2013 Accord -- fresh out of the Ohio plant -- for $189 a month?”
Republicans know this.
Remember back in February when they were up in arms about the Super Bowl ad Clint Eastwood did for Chrysler? The complaints about Chrysler supporting President Obama were
loud and many.
That wasn't the last time the Romney campaign winced at something Clint Eastwood did. And, as it turns out, that was not the last time the Romney campaign would rue the "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt" headline that ran over his NY Times op-ed essay.
Shapiro interviewed several Ohio GOP operatives, and he has concluded that "Romney’s hopes of carrying Ohio are fast dwindling to something like the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot."
Let's make those odds even longer. If you are in Ohio, won't you be sure to find your campaign office, help out, and vote early?