On a conference call Thursday, the Obama campaign will announce the launch of Veterans and Military Families for Obama, building on work the campaign has been doing to engage the military vote this election cycle. But the messaging doens’t stop there. The campaign will also attack Mitt Romney, arguing that his policies — like his support for the Ryan budget — would hurt veterans.
From the press release:
Our country can’t go backwards, but that’s exactly what Mitt Romney promises America’s veterans. The Romney-Ryan budget includes deep domestic spending cuts that – if applied across the board – would cut veterans’ spending by $11 billion a year. Additionally, he said he would consider eliminating the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which would put thousands of Veterans on the streets by eliminating critical funding and support for programs aimed at helping homeless Veterans. In fact, Romney suggested privatizing veterans benefits and giving veterans vouchers for health care – an idea that outside experts said would leave veterans unable to receive essential care and that the Veterans of Foreign Wars immediately came out in opposition to.
As TPM has reported, the Obama campaign has been reaching out to veterans and members of the military and their families, a bloc that is increasingly important now that states like Virginia and North Carolina are in play. Though service members are a Republican voting block, a recent poll from Reuters/Ipsos showed Obama leading Romney among veterans and would win veterans by 7 points if the election were held now.
