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NYT's Jeff Zeleny: Obama's Bain rollout has been a 'disaster'

New York Times national political correspondent Jeff Zeleny said the rollout of the attacks on Bain Capital has been "nothing short of a disaster" for the Obama campaign, during a panel on "Fox News Sunday."

WALLACE: Jeff, there is a narrative out there between the blowback from some democrats about Bain and the fact that the president has gone so negative, so personal on Romney so early that he’s stumbled out of the gate. Do you buy that?

JEFF ZELENY: I think we don’t—it’s too early to know if he’s stumbled out of the gate. The reality is the Obama campaign had always planned to use the two months of the summer, really—May, June, beginning of July—to define Mitt Romney, so that’s what we’re seeing now. We are not sure if it is successful or not. The rollout of Bain Capital was really nothing short of a disaster for them, and they have had a lot of time to do this. At least in the eastern sort of coastal region.

WALLACE:  Wait, what you’re saying is, it matters that the former governor of Pennsylvania and mayor of Newark have their own ties to private equity?

ZELENY:  All Democrats, right. But what really matters is how this is being internalized by the voters in Ohio, in Wisconsin, and Michigan. But I think it is far too early to say that the president’s campaign has stumbled coming out of the gate. I think it looks like they’re not quite up to speed on the campaign, like they’ve had a year to get this ready. But the Romney campaign is in fighting form, they’ve just finished a primary, and it’s clear that the Obama campaign is a little slower here. They are really trying to define Mitt Romney, so we’ll see. We'll see in august where Mitt Romney is standing. If he’s as strong in august as he is right now, the Obama campaign is in real trouble. They realize that. I think the ups and downs of these weeks is not as important as how the voters are internalizing it.