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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2010 > August > 18 > Entry
Ad Watch: ‘Jobs for Ohio’ ad
During the election season, we will take a look at some of the TV ads of the major candiates.
By Jack Torry Washington Bureau
THE AD: “Jobs for Ohio,’’ a 30-second TV commercial.
PRODUCER: American Crossroads, an independent organization whose founders include Karl Rove, onetime political aide to former President George W. Bush, and Ed Gillespie, former chairman of the Republican National Committee. The organization spent $500,000 to air the commercial across Ohio.
VIDEO: Opens with a graphic of a politician holding a megaphone and then the number of jobs Ohio has lost since 2007. Then we see pleasant photos of a casually dressed Rob Portman chatting with voters and workers, with at least two shots of him holding his blue-covered book of his plan to create jobs. We also see him munching a hamburger at an outdoor barbecue and chatting with young people as he briskly walks down a street in what appears to be a small town.
SCRIPT: A female and male announcer alternating: “Politicians talk and talk, while Ohio loses 400,000 jobs. But Rob Portman’s finding solutions in Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo, Dayton, ideas in all 88 counties, all part of Portman’s plan to create jobs. The talkers gave us stimulus and debt. But Portman hears Ohio families; strengthens job creation. Rob Portman, listening, then leading. Vote Rob Portman. Now that’s change.’’
ANALYSIS: It would be difficult to find another commercial that has the appearance of being so carefully tested by polls and focus groups. It hits virtually every important theme - a politician listening to voters, an outsider not part of the Washington establishment, and a candidate talking about jobs.
Yet the commercial, while avoiding any direct attacks on Senate Democratic candidate Lee Fisher, is extremely misleading by omission. A person watching would assume that: (A) Portman has never held political office, (B) Does not wear a business suit and tie, and (C) Is just some guy who hangs out at barbecues.
In fact, Portman spent more than a decade as a Republican congressman from Cincinnati, and served for one year each as U.S. trade representative and budget director under former President George W. Bush. As a member of Congress, he voted for the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement and Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China. He supported the 2001 tax cuts that many economists believe were a factor in transforming a $128 billion federal budget surplus in 2001 into a decade of major deficits.
As for the 400,000 jobs lost? Ohio lost 379,900 non-farm payrolls jobs from December 2006 - just before Fisher became lieutenant governor — until June of this year. But the state has been steadily losing jobs since 2000, under both Republican and Democratic governors. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Ohio has had a net loss of 568,300 jobs from January of 2000 until June of this year.
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By certain_sourire
August 24, 2010 12:04 PM | Link to this
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By Big Anthony
August 21, 2010 7:33 PM | Link to this
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