Mitt Romney’s new TV ad for Michigan features him driving around Detroit, talking about growing up in the state while expressing concern for how hard things have gotten there. It’s uncannily similar to a video he made for voters in New Hampshire last summer where he drove around the state, talked about all the time his family had spent there, and expressed concern for how hard things have gotten there.
Yes, it seems the Romney team have a formula for selling their candidate’s close and personal relationship to a state. Take a look below:
Here’s the New Hampshire ad his campaign posted online back in summer 2011.
Hold that thought as you watch the TV ad Romney is dropping on Michigan, where he talks up his connections by driving around and talking about how much of a Michigander he is:
The contrast is even more startling when you watch the two spots playing side by side.
Polls show Romney is struggling in Michigan, the state where he grew up and his father was once governor. A recent PPP poll showed 62% of Michiganders don’t even consider Romney a Michigander.
From 2009 until recently, New Hampshire has served virtually as Romney’s home state. So it seems that in order to rebuild his connections to his old home state, Romney’s using the same formula he used while trying to build connections to his new one.
Evan McMorris-Santoro
Evan McMorris-Santoro has covered politics for TPM since 2009. Before that, he was a reporter at National Journal’s Hotline covering election 2008. He started his career covering local politics at newspapers in TN and his native NC.
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