One week after the release of hidden camera clips of Mitt Romney from a private fundraiser rocked the race for the White House, the Obama campaign is using the controversial comments in a new television commercial that they say will start running Monday.
In the 30-second ad, the narrator gets straight to the point, saying "Mitt Romney attacked 47 percent of Americans who pay no income tax, including veterans, the elderly and disabled."
The narrator refers to the secret clips released last Monday in the liberal magazine Mother Jones of Romney at a private fundraiser in Florida in May. The material, recorded without the candidate's knowledge, showed the Republican challenger telling the audience that 47 percent of voters are dependent on the government, see themselves as victims, and would "vote for the president no matter what."
One of the clips is incorporated in the new spot. "My job is not to worry about those people," Romney says while standing at the podium.
The narrator then asks viewers "doesn't the President have to worry about everyone?"
The ad goes on to paint Romney as a wealthy hypocrite.
"Mitt Romney paid just 14.1 percent in taxes last year," says the narrator, claiming that "he keeps millions in Bermuda and the Cayman islands."
The spot ends with the narrator saying Romney "won't release his tax returns before 2010. Maybe instead of attacking others on taxes, Romney should come clean on his."
On Friday, the Romney campaign released the candidate's 2011 tax returns and a summary of Mitt and Ann Romney's tax returns from 1990-2009. Romney's 2010 tax returns were made public back in January.
The Romney campaign was quick to respond to the new Obama campaign commercial.
"President Obama's tax increases on middle class families will not make the next four years any better than the last four. Under President Obama's failed leadership, 23 million Americans are struggling for work with 46 million Americans on food stamps and more people in poverty than ever before," said Romney campaign press secretary Andrea Saul. "Mitt Romney has a plan for a stronger middle class that will lower tax rates across the board and jumpstart economic growth creating 12 million job."
The Obama campaign says ad will begin running in Ohio, as Rep. Paul Ryan, Romney's running mate, kicks off a three day swing through the crucial battleground state. Romney picks up campaigning in Ohio on Tuesday and Wednesday. The bus tour currently has six stops planned in the Buckeye state, and will overlap with the President's Ohio swing on Wednesday. The president is expected to stump in in Bowling Green and Kent.
A CNN Poll of Polls which averages the four latest non-partisan live operator polls in Ohio puts the president at 50 percent among likely voters, with Romney at 45 percent.

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