The ad states that job creation in Massachusetts “fell” to 47th under Romney. That’s a bit misleading. Massachusetts’ state ranking for job growth went from 50th the year before he took office, to 28th in his final year. It was 47th for the whole of his four-year tenure, but it was improving, not declining, when he left.The ad claims Romney “left the state $2.6 billion deeper in debt.” It’s true that long-term bond debt — used for capital improvements — rose under Romney, as it had in the years before he took office. But Romney wasn’t piling up yearly deficits to support operating expenses the way the federal government is, because Massachusetts requires balanced budgets.
Today, the Obama campaign is following-up on last week's ad - not to correct it, but to continue to sling mud in Romney's general direction. The AP notes that "the ad is selective in its economic data. The Massachusetts economy improved slightly while Romney was governor but its average employment growth was among the nation's worst."
It's all part of the Obama campaign's attempt to relegate the issue of the economy to the back burner and sweep his own economic record under the rug. In the wake of a terrible jobs report last week, President Obama needs all the help he can get - and if he has to distort the truth to do it, so be it.
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