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Campaign ad watch: Portman’s ‘Jobs 2’ commercial
By Jack Torry Washington Bureau
The ad: “Jobs 2,” a 30-second TV commercial aired by Senate Republican candidate Rob Portman
Producer: Stevens & Schriefer Group
Video: The commercial offers a blend of grainy black-and-white photos of Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, the Senate Democratic candidate, blended with printed words, such as “Fisher says hold him accountable for his job record,” and “nearly 400,000 jobs lost” in Ohio since 2007, with arrows superimposed over a map of the United States to show the jobs leaving Ohio. Then the viewer sees the words, “Had enough?” followed by attractive color photos of Portman and his jobs plan for Ohio.
Script: A female announcer says: “Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher takes office as director of development. His official role? Create jobs. Fisher says hold him accountable for his job record. How’s he doing? Nearly 400,000 jobs lost, with a record number moving to other states. Now, Fisher says he wants to take his experience with job creation to Washington. Had enough?”
A male announcer then says: “Rob Portman, he’s got a jobs plan to get Ohio working,” before Portman says, “I’m Rob Portman, and I approved this message.”
Analysis: Right away, you know this is a nasty commercial because Portman uses three of the most unflattering photos ever taken of Fisher. The commercial seeks to blame Fisher - and apparently only Fisher - for Ohio losing 379,900 nonfarm payroll jobs from just before Fisher took office in December 2006 until June of this year. Because Fisher was director of the Ohio Department of Development and publicly said his performance would be measured through job creation, per-capita income and Ohioans with college degrees, the commercial is fair game.
But although the commercial relies on accurate numbers, it is misleading because Ohio has seen a steady job loss since 2000. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Ohio has had a net loss of 568,300 jobs from January 2000 to June of this year, with manufacturing employment sliding from 1 million in 2000 to 627,800. Under the logic employed by Portman, any of the following politicians could be held equally responsible: former President George W. Bush, President Barack Obama, former Gov. Bob Taft, Gov. Ted Strickland, Fisher, and yes, even Portman, who was a Republican congressman, U.S. trade representative and White House budget director for much of the decade. In addition, only six states added jobs during Fisher’s tenure.
In reality, a variety of complex factors have led to Ohio’s decline in nonfarm payrolls: The rapid decline of General Motors and Chrysler; major increases in productivity, which means Ohio factories produce more goods with fewer workers; the brutal national recessions of 2001 and 2008, which wiped out tens of thousands of jobs; a migration by some companies to states with lower tax rates than Ohio’s; and intense competition from foreign trade partners.
One interesting aside: The “Had enough?” line employed by Portman is a Republican campaign theme from 1946 when the GOP won control of Congress by asking Americans if they had “had enough” of the New Deal.
- Jack Torry
jtorry@dispatch.com
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Comments
By ohiodonkeydude
July 29, 2010 12:12 PM | Link to this
568,000 jobs lost since 2000? I remember Rob Portman being part of the US House from Cincinnati as well as budget director for George W.Bush and trade ambassador to China. No one in our state knows more about job loss than Rob (don’t crash my bike while riding with my son) Portman. WOW !!!1
By ohiodonkeydude
July 29, 2010 12:07 PM | Link to this
This guy is unbelievable. He spent alot of time as trade representative to China under George W to send millions of jobs from the US to China. This all made his good friends or CEO’s around the state happy. This guy is responsible for sending more jobs overseas than anybody on the planet. He’s banking on the fact that Ohioians don’t know what he was doing or why as budget director and former trade ambassador with China. What a stinking joke!!!