The President's campaign is opening up a new front in its re-election fight by turning the focus to Mitt Romney's "broken promises" as Governor of Massachusetts. The campaign launched a new four-minute online ad this morning and later today his key adviser, David Axelrod, will actually go to Romney's home turf in Boston to stage a press conference with local lawmakers on the steps of the statehouse. 

Faced with an opponent who only has had only four years as an elected officeholder, the Obama camp doesn't have a lot to work with when it comes to breaking down their opponent's record. The ongoing assault on Romney's time at Bain Capital has landed some hard blows, but at some point the story had to turn to his one relevant job experience. Despite only having one term, it's a record that Romney brags about on the trail, but now the Democrats are spinning their side of the story.

The video intersperses Romney's campaign speeches from 2002 (which sound very similar to a lot of his words from 2012) with Democratic lawmakers from Massachusetts repeating the refrain: "It didn't work." Axelrod issued a five-page memo on Wednesday saying that despite Romney's claims, during his single four-year term job growth slowed, fees went up, and the state's debt spiked — all things Romney says won't happen if he's President. 

Romney's team is already responding, both by mocking Axelrod's press conference move and repeating their oft cited line that Romney created more jobs in Massachusetts than Barack Obama has created as president. Neither side is even getting into the parallels between Romneycare and Obamacare, but we're sure that a fight that's coming on another day.

No matter what you think of the ad or the facts it argues, the final line makes for a pretty good soundbite and an attractive, news ready anti-slogan: "Romney economics doesn't work. It didn't work in Massachusetts and it's not going to work in Washington."

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Dashiell Bennett