Romney Campaign Press Release - Memorandum: Obama in Florida: Money for Nothing

To:                  Interested Parties

From:             Brett Doster and Alberto Martinez, Florida Senior Advisors

Re:                 Obama in Florida: Money for Nothing

"I own a small business, and my husband and I are doing fine. We're okay, but the future of this economy worries us a lot," said Miami businesswoman Doris Del Toro, 52, a Cuban-American independent who voted for Obama four years ago and is undecided this year. "I'm just not happy with what Obama has done. He's moved way too far to the left. He spent too much time on health care when the economy should have been his priority." (Adam C. Smith, "Presidential Race In Florida A Coin Toss" Tampa Bay Times, 07/14/12)

Since June 1, President Obama or a major campaign surrogate (including the Vice President and First Lady) have held more than 20 events in Florida. They've taken airboat tours of the Everglades, attended ritzy fundraisers with pop music stars, held college campus campaign rallies and given commencement addresses.

Meanwhile, the Obama For America campaign has plunged more than $17 million into television ads in Florida, blanketing the airwaves with negative and misleading ads. In Orlando alone, President Obama and his liberal allies spent nearly $5 million dollars on more than 4,000 mostly negative ads in just May and June.

Despite the time, money, and effort being expended by the Obama Campaign, President Obama and his policies remain unpopular, and he has not seen any movement in re-election polls:

(Source: Purple Strategies polls)

A Mason-Dixon Poll in Florida finds that the despite the President's Sunshine State Assault, neither he nor his policies are getting any more popular:

• 54 percent of likely Florida voters say the country is on the "wrong track" with Obama at the helm.
• 41 percent say President Obama's policies have made the economy worse.
• 52 percent oppose Obamacare and 50 percent of Florida voters want to see it repealed.

Digging deeper still, the President's 2008 base — represented in Florida's diverse communities - is crumbling.

According to Gallup, the President's support among Jewish voters has fallen by 10 points, and enthusiasm from the youth vote is down 20 points from 2008 levels.

According to Mason-Dixon, Florida Hispanics have fled President Obama, who is down 9 points from the 58% he received from Hispanics in 2008.

An incumbent struggling to stay at a 45 percent, should be worried.

An incumbent struggling to stay at 45 percent - after plowing through $20 million in negative advertising, and holding more than 20 major campaign events in one state - is in trouble.

So why is President Obama in trouble in the Sunshine State?

Floridians Are Suffering In The Obama Economy

Despite a pro-growth Governor and Legislature that is laser-focused on job creation, Florida like the rest of the nation is saddled with President Obama's job-killing and business-discouraging economic policies which are acting like an anchor around our economic recovery.

The four areas President Obama will visit have all lost jobs during President Obama's time in office:

Jacksonville: Lost 9,400 jobs since Obama took office (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 7/17/12)

West Palm Beach/Boca Raton/Boynton Beach: Lost 15,800 since Obama took office (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 7/17/12)

Fort Myers/Cape Coral: Lost 3,400 jobs since Obama took office (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 7/17/12)

Orlando/Kissimmee/Sanford: Lost 14,400 jobs since Obama took office (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 7/17/12)

The unemployment rate in these areas are also still well above the 8 percent President Obama warned of when he rammed through the $800 billion stimulus.

Jacksonville: The unemployment rate is at 8.3% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Accessed 07/19/12)

Fort Myers/Cape Coral: The unemployment rate in May 2012 increased from 8.6 to 8.7 percent (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 7/17/12)

Orlando/Kissimmee/Sanford: The unemployment rate in May 2012 increased from 8.2 to 8.3 percent (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 7/17/12)

Orlando: Hispanic unemployment soared to 16.6 percent in 2011 (Economic Policy Institute, Accessed 7/17/12)

West Palm Beach: The unemployment rate is 8.5% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Accessed 07/19/12)

In addition, hopes of faster economic recovery were dimmed by a report from The Legislative Office of Economic and Demographic Research which estimated that Florida's unemployment rate of 8.6 percent would be 9.5 percent if workers who have stopped looking for jobs were added to the picture. The figures were in keeping with national data that show that the slow decline in unemployment is due to "a smaller labor force and not to job growth."

Foreclosures also continue to be a persistent problem in Florida. In April 2012, the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford metropolitan areas had the second highest metropolitan foreclosure inventory in the nation, with 12.2 percent of all homes with a mortgage in some stage of foreclosure. (Press Release, "CoreLogic Reports 63,000 Completed Foreclosures In May," CoreLogic, 6/29/12)

Rather than being focused on the economy, Floridians see President Obama as someone who "spent too much time on health care when the economy should have been his priority." In addition to skipping Jobs Council meetings to attend fundraisers with Marc Anthony, the few times President Obama has focused on the economy, his policies have been counter-productive.

Just last week, the President announced he would raise taxes on small business owners. The Orlando Sentinel looked into that position and found that "a quarter million Florida households would see their taxes rise" as a result of that tax. It's just the latest sign that the President doesn't know how to fix our economy.

Obama's Policies Are Unpopular

In addition to poor Obama Economy statistics above, the President's policies are proving to be deeply unpopular in Florida.

A 2010 poll found more voters think the President's $800 billion stimulus hurt the economy more than it helped.

In a poll taken after the Supreme Court's decision to rule it constitutional, more than half of Floridians said they opposed the President's signature legislation, ObamaCare. More troublesome for the President, 55 percent of independents said they opposed ObamaCare.

Floridians Are Rejecting President Obama's Dishonest Campaign Ads

While numerous independent fact-checking organizations have looked into the Obama campaign's false and negative attacks, there's evidence that the President's ads are backfiring here in Florida, too.

Fort Myers NBC's Andy Pierrotti looked into the claims made against Gov. Romney about outsourcing and found the Obama campaign's claims to be false. The President's spokesman Stephanie Cutter even tried to plead her case on the station, but facts are stubborn things.

The past five presidential elections in Florida have been decided by an average of roughly 3 points. Despite the deep challenges facing President Obama in Florida, this will be a tightly contested race, and the Romney for President campaign will fight for votes in every corner of the state.

Still, after nearly four years of suffering the broken promises and failed policies of President Obama, Floridians are looking for real change.

Governor Romney's proven record and positive vision to grow our economy and create jobs for Floridians is more powerful than President Obama's negative and dishonest campaign, and the millions he is spending to run from his failed record. We believe more than anything else, that dynamic alone will prove decisive in Governor Romney's favor.