Michelle Nunn Takes A Page From Blistering Anti-Romney Playbook

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Democrat Michelle Nunn’s campaign for U.S. Senate is taking a page from the playbook Democrats used to hit Mitt Romney over his time as the head against Bain Capital.

A new television ad by the Nunn campaign targeting businessman David Perdue, the Republican nominee Nunn is facing in the Georgia Senate race, hits the former CEO for his time as the head of Pillowtex in North Carolina. The company went bankrupt soon after. The ad features people in neighboring Salisbury, N.C., many of them elderly, describing how the bankruptcy devastated many of the employees while Perdue “walked away with his $1.7 million.”

“Just months after David Perdue abandoned Pillowtex, the company went bankrupt,” the ad said.

“All we were was people to make money off our backs,” one of the people in the video, Cynthia Hanes, who the ad said worked at Pillowtex for 31 years, said near the end.

The one-minute ad is actually similar to the anti-Romney ads the pro-Obama Democratic super PAC Priorities USA made in 2012 that hit the former Massachusetts governor for his time at Bain Capital, painting him as a cold businessman who was willing to cut jobs as long as he made a profit. National Journal points out that Nunn has actually got Schor Johnson Magnus, the same strategists who made the Romney ads for Priorities USA, working for her campaign.

National Journal also notes that one of the anti-Romney ads, “Stage” was the “single most effective” ad of the entire campaign cycle, according to television analytics company Ace Metrix.

Watch Nunn’s new ad:

And compare it to the ad “Stage,” below:

Below is the TPM Polltracker average of the Georgia Senate race.

(Photo credit: Youtube)

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Notable Replies

  1. Unless she’s going to follow up with a full on barrage of similar commercials, or build out a larger theme of “this is what Republicans want,” I would have held this one until some time in late September. But it’s not like I’m a pro or something, so what do I know?

  2. You’re assuming she has nothing left in her arsenal? She’s got serious DNC and DSCC money behind her. I doubt that she just spent all her bullets on this one ad.

  3. “In 1998, Perdue joined Reebok as a senior vice president. While serving as president and CEO of Reebok, Perdue negotiated a contract with the National Football League. In 2002, Perdue left Reebok for Pillowtex, a North Carolina textile company. In 2003, he left Pillowtex to become CEO of the Dollar General. Perdue started an Atlanta-based global trading firm in April 2011.”

    “According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Perdue is known on Wall Street as a turnaround specialist who helps revive brands and reap rewards for investors.”

    Workers versus the rich playboy a good line of attack with plenty of play room.

  4. This is the first salvo in what promises to be a forceful campaign.
    The season is just starting, and this is a preview of what she has in store for Perdue.

  5. Avatar for dnl dnl says:

    TeaPols take their Hypocritical Oath very severely:

    First do no harm to the flow of lucre (filthy is fine) into my bank acc…Uhhhhhhh , I mean my ‘favorite charity’.

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