POLITICKING: THE AMERICAN WAY-lessons to learn as Nigerians.

The Romney campaign released a new TV ad Sunday contrasting Mitt Romney's tenure as governor of Massachusetts with President Barack Obama's first term in office, focusing on how Romney worked with a Democratic legislature while Obama has blamed his inability to "change Washington" on opposition from House Republicans.

The ad, called "Find a Way," is one of the few spots to highlight the Republican presidential nominee's record in Massachusetts. It seizes in particular on comments made by Obama last month, in which he expressed frustration at learning that he couldn't "change Washington from the inside." The argument was hardly new, but Romney quickly jumped on the statement as proof that Obama had failed to work with Congress and doesn't deserve another chance.
“Most Americans believe we are heading in the wrong direction," the narrator says in the ad. "Higher deficits, chronic unemployment, a president who admits he can't work with Congress.”
“But he says he's only had 4 years. That's all Mitt Romney needed," he continues. "He turned Massachusetts around, cut unemployment, turned the deficit he inherited into a rainy day fund. All with an 85% Democratic legislature. Some can't live up to their promises. Others find a way.”
The Obama campaign had focused its efforts on Romney's term as Massachusetts governor earlier this cycle, charging that he was unable to meet his promises and spur job growth while governing the state from 2003 to 2007. In its response to Romney's new ad, Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith resurrected those points and attributed them to "Romnesia," the phrase the president's reelection team has coined to characterize Romney's recent pivot to the middle.
"If his latest ad is any indication, Mitt Romney’s Romnesia is only getting worse," Smith said in an email. "But he is right on one point - he only needed four years as governor of Massachusetts."
"That’s because in just one term, Romney drove the state down to 47th out of 50th in job creation, increased per capita debt to the largest in the nation, left his successor a $1 billion deficit, and pushed through a tax cut that overwhelmingly benefited 278 of the wealthiest residents while raising taxes and fees on everyone else," she added. "And he did all of this while refusing to work across the aisle. Mitt Romney wouldn’t make Washington better - he’d make it worse."