Focus group shows Bain image hurting Romney

[bigtree]

from Maria Cardona 'Democratic strategist':

(CNN) -- There has been much speculation about whether the ads that President Barack Obama's campaign and its supporters have been running that are critical of Mitt Romney's tenure at Bain Capital will be effective. There is also lots of critiquing of the reasons and effectiveness of first lady Michelle Obama's appearances on talk shows and reality shows ("The Biggest Loser," "Late Show With David Letterman," "The Daily Show," etc.).

But something I saw last night indicates the Bain ads are starting to have an effect, and that women view Michelle Obama as a positive -- a conduit to the president.

I was invited to sit in remotely on two focus groups of so-called "Wal-Mart" moms in Richmond, Virginia, and Las Vegas. Both groups -- 23 women, in all -- were screened to ensure the moms were not strong partisans on either side, and most identified themselves as independents and undecided. The Las Vegas group was all Latinas . . .

They gave him kudos for being a businessman, saying that would be a good attribute for a president in creating jobs, but they also underscored what they had heard in the ads that had been running in their hometowns. They used phrases like "I heard that while he was the head of a company, many workers lost their jobs ..." "That scares me."

When asked to use one word or phrase to describe Romney, the words or phrases they used included "Don't know that much about him," "selfish, "businessman who is concerned with making himself some money," "concerned about the wealthy," "can't be trusted," "scares me," and "lackluster" -- again, echoing some of what is being said in the Bain ads around the country . . .

So while in the minds of many of these women, Mitt Romney is largely undefined, what they apparently do know and feel about him seems to echo those Bain ads -- and look to represent a beginning sketch of someone they cannot trust.


read more: http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/08/opinion/cardona-romney-focus-group/

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. and the "money laundering"

[zeemike]

12. It does not matter.

The GOP strategy is to get people to vote against Obama.
And they will keep hammering away at how he is a socialist and other things like that to drive the sheep in that direction...and the media will assist like sheep herding dogs do....

[Rosa Luxemburg]

13. the more people hear about Bain the better

[zeemike]

14. True enough

But the GOP will pour on the narrative that Obama and the government is so corrupt that the only thing you can do is press the destruct button to protest Obama and his corruption...Vote the bums out I think is the sound bite.
And they have been working on that for the last three years. but as we approach November it will get worse and look for a really special October surprise...

[Rosa Luxemburg]

15. if they steal the election

the government isn't as corrupt as some entities.

[drm604]

2. Cool!

[ibegurpard]

3. of course they will

now let's all thank Clinton and Booker for kneecapping that campaign strategy.

[bigtree]

4. well, i don't think that a plurality of these women actually know what Clinton or Booker said

It's not as if they're out there campaigning on their gaffes. What is prescient now; and what will be prescient going forward; is how these candidates are defined. The President is a known quantity, for better or worse; Romney is a blank slate to a large majority of voters. This evidence from this focus group suggests that the President's campaign effort to define the republican nominee is having an effect.

[bluerum]

5. Screw Rmoney and his houses. Bain hurt regular folks.

[bigtree]

6. he'll do for America what he did with Bain

. . . run it into the ground to line his pockets and ship the money he makes off of us to an overseas account to avoid paying taxes.

[kemah]

7. Bain Ads Work

Just ask Newt, he used them very successfully, but he ran out of money and he was never a serious candidate. He along with Cain were in for the money.

[magical thyme]

9. they also worked when he lost his attempt at Mass senate

it took a really poor candidate to enable him to be governor there for a term.

[Aerows]

8. Romney is hurting Romney

Every week we hear something new from someone who knew him and they don't have very good things to say about him.

He's severely ethically challenged.

[mikekohr]

10. Yea, but he impersonates police officers, so we know he's a law and order guy.

[Andy823]

11. I agree

The more people hear him, the more they find out about his past flip flops, his bullying, his lack of concern about everyone but him, his deferments from the draft, and a million other things, the less likely people are going to want to vote for this guy. Even those republicans that don't like Obama are going to find out they like Mitt even less. Of course the more he opens his mouth helps because this guy is a habitual liar and even though the MSM has not been pointing that out, sooner or later it will come out no matter how hard the right tries to cover it up.

[cgnick]

16. Let him run on his record as governor

[madinmaryland]

17. Why is being a businessman a good attribute for being a president?? WTF

I just don't fucking get it. Businessmen and Businesswomen are there only to make money for themselves and the company. Why the fuck would we someone like that running this country. I don't get how people can be so fucking brainwashed to believe that crap.

Has this country every had a "businessman" that was a successful President?

No. and Fucking No.

[Aviation Pro]

18. Teddy Rex...

...for one.

Pretty darn good presidentin' there.

[CarmanK]

19. Read Stiglitz book on Inequality in America for verbiage to use against Romney etc.

Also, would like to add a tidbit. Romney was management in a corporate raider firm.
He killed jobs and companies and shafted workers and shareholder by giving MANAGEMENT big salaries, outsized bonuses and hefty golden parachutes.
American public traded companies were seized by management taking on unprecedented powers as CEO's, stacked the boards with friendly's and essentially left shareholders in the wind when it came to setting their pay. So, now we know, it wasn't just the middle class in america
that got hollowed out by the rich getting richer, it was deliberate decisions on the part of managers/CEO's on WALL STREET to maximize their take of profits by downsizing-getting rid of workers and pocketing their salaries, giving themselves bonuses whether they made profits or not for shareholders and then padded their golden parachutes should they be discharged for any reason.
Really clever was to rip off companies legally.
congress failed to reform corp governance, in fact Barney Frank talked about it once, but then the dems lost the House, so they couldn't move forward.
Romney not only shafted workers at BAIN, he did his shareholders in also.

[grantcart]

20. kick

[Douglas Carpenter]

21. from the point of campaign strategy Bain MUST be made the central issue - it should be run over and

over and over again - Every man, woman, child, dog and cat in America must be saturated with the message.

The ONLY reason why some Democrats oppose those ads is because some Democrats are beholden to the interest of companies that operate on the Bain Capital/Gordon Gecko model. Those same Democrats have no problem with that kind of predatory capitalism and would certainly have absolutely no problem whatsoever making their fortune the same way Mitt Romney did.

Of course the President needs to push this message as much as possible. If he doesn't he may likely loose. If he does - he will probably win.

Furthermore it will define the campaign and the agenda in terms of asking the American people to choose what model of capitalism do they think is best for the nation's future.