Democratic Super PAC Patriot Majority USA has released an inflammatory new ad that labels Mitt Romney a traitor, according to Politico.
In a new TV- and web-based messaging push, the labor super PAC Workers’ Voice and the Democratic Super PAC Patriot Majority slam Romney for a controversial Bain decision to move jobs at the company Sensata from Illinois to China. The move has spurred protests in Illinois, including from the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
The two groups will run TV commercials on the story in three markets: Youngstown, Ohio; Green Bay, Wis., and Pittsburgh. A strategist said the Pittsburgh ads are aimed at Ohio voters in the same market. Workers’ Voice and Patriot Majority will also run display ads, Facebook ads and search ads on Google and Bing.
The ads, which cost just under a million dollars, label Romney an "economic traitor" who built a company that now hurts U.S. workers.
Patriot Majority is run by a former top aide to Sen. Harry Reid, Craig Varoga. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Patriot Majority conducts almost all of its business through a nonprofit that is not required to disclose its donors. During the current election cycle, Patriot Majority ranks ninth among all outside spending groups that don’t disclose donors. It has already spent at least $6.3 million.
Obama and his allies have attacked dark money in politics and the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, arguing that it would lead to foreign money being spent in American campaigns. It is Obama, however, who has been accused of accepting foreign money through illegal online contributions.
It is unclear if this dark money smear by Democratic groups will generate the kind of media outrage that stemmed from similar language being used against Obama in 2008.