WHOOAA!! “@NYKellen: Sources in the Romney campaign claim that June's fundraising numbers could exceed $100 million. .http://fb.me/1LJAqVNi6”
People close to the Romney campaign say it could close its June fund-raising books having collected an additional $100 million, possibly more, a tally that would exceed all expectations and further extend the overall Republican financial advantage in the race.
With that cash influx, Mr. Romney’s team is preparing a new advertising campaign that will aggressively portray Mr. Obama as a craven political figure, rather than the transformative leader he pledged he would be.
They began that effort in the past several days with a new ad that uses video of Hillary Rodham Clinton lashing out at Mr. Obama in the 2008 Democratic primary campaign as spending “millions of dollars perpetuating falsehoods.” Aides said they were considering more ads with Mrs. Clinton or her husband criticizing Mr. Obama.
“He’s just another politician,” Matt Rhoades, the campaign manager for Mr. Romney, said in an interview. “He’s not the Barack Obama of the last campaign.”
And Mr. Obama’s aides acknowledged that whatever they do, they still must contend with a troubled economy, with monthly reminders in the unemployment and job creation reports, the next of which comes out on Friday.
Mr. Romney’s aides said in interviews that their strategy depended on keeping their candidate close to Mr. Obama in the polls until at least the Republican convention at the end of August. They hope to begin to pull away then with a relentless case that Mr. Obama has not been up to the job of fixing the economy — and that Mr. Romney has the experience and the knowledge to lead the nation to recovery.
They have studiously avoided getting drawn into what they have called side issues. And at times they have limited Mr. Romney’s media appearances, even after the health care decision, which conservatives believe will help motivate voters who now see electing Mr. Romney as the only chance of undoing the law.
But Mr. Romney’s strategy of avoiding clashes on issues other than the economy and minimizing his risks — he has no public events scheduled until at least the Fourth of July — is starting to draw criticism even from some fellow Republicans, who are urging him to take more specific stands and set out a more positive agenda.
