AdWatch: Santorum ad lumps Romney, Obama together

Seattle PI ^ | Updated 09:06 a.m., Wednesday, January 18, 2012 | HENRY C. JACKSON

[Red Steel]

WASHINGTON (AP) — TITLE: "Easy Answer"

LENGTH: 30 seconds

AIRING: On South Carolina broadcast and cable stations.

KEY IMAGES: A series of jarring noises that sound like slamming metal doors punctuate alternating images of President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. A male narrator intones darkly as he reads the script addressing Romney's record.

"Obama supported the Wall Street bailouts. So did Romney," the narrator says. "Obama gave us radical Obamacare — that was based on Romneycare. Obama's a liberal on social issues. Romney once bragged he's even more liberal than Ted Kennedy on social issues.

"Why would we ever vote for someone who is just like Obama?" he continues. "When we can unite around Rick Santorum, and beat Obama."

Footage of Santorum speaking at a campaign rally follows, as he says he approves the ad's message.

ANALYSIS: Sapped of the momentum he picked up after a near-win in the Iowa caucuses, Santorum faces a make-or-break moment in South Carolina. If he's going to have any shot at the Republican nomination, he'll have to stop Romney, currently cruising after back-to-back wins in the first two contests of the presidential nominating cycle.

Santorum's method is blunt force, portraying Romney and Obama as similar on a host of issues. It's a shot at Romney's chief vulnerability with Republican primary voters — the notion that he's more moderate than the other candidates and too similar to Obama.

"Easy Answer" comes days after a group of conservative activists called on voters to coalesce around Santorum as the best conservative alternative to Romney. The ad could be read on one level as an effort to build on that affirmation, though Santorum is trying to do it by picking apart Romney rather than highlighting his own conservative bona fides.

[Chgogal]

Romney/RomneyCare = Big Government/ObamaCare

[camle]

so we’re gonna have the choice between a black big government lib, and a white big government lib.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

Or a sheep in wolves’ clothing replacing a wolf in wolves’ clothing.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

Gov. Romney is more a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but with his changing stances, it’s all quite confusing.

[throwback]

Well at least Rick has enough money to run some ads for once. He is the Tebow of this campaign and will probably have the same fate, but I do like that old adage, “it's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game”. Rick has played well. He is far and away the best issues oriented candidate that I've seen in town hall meetings. I know I'm stupid, so you can save the flames.

[Salamander]