The “build that” battle heats up

Governor Bob McDonnell still won’t talk about his prospects, but Wednesday he started a two day run on behalf of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

McDonnell joined two local business owners to keep up a chorus of attacks over a line in President Barack Obama‘s speech in Roanoke earlier in the month.  The attacks have been so fierce that the president himself responded to them directly in a TV ad.

At a local small business, McDonnell was joined by two local business owners who claimed they were offended by the comments.

But the Obama campaign is not just allowing the attacks to go unanswered.

Here is my report for NBC12:

  It was one line in a speech delivered by president obama here in Virginia and it has quickly become a key battle point in the presidential election.

 The president was talking about the importance of the government’s role in creating and helping businesses survive. But his remarks have offended some small business owners and the Romney campaign is seizing on the opportunity.

 It was one line that has transformed into a campaign slogan for Mitt Romney.

 ”If you got a business,” Obama said in Roanoke.  “You didn’t build that.”

You didn’t build that, has become “we did build it” and on a banner behind a Governor Bob McDonnell at a Romney event in Richmond. 

“This is a president and an administration that is out of touch, out of ideas and as far as I am concerned out of time,” McDonnell said.

The president has personally responded to the attack line with a new campaign ad.

“Those ads taking my words about small business out of context;” Obama says speaking directly to the camera, “They’re flat out wrong.”

But, local business owner Melissa Ball, said reading the entire speech, made her even more upset.

“The one phrase wasn’t even as bad as the whole together,” she said.  

Democrats counter that Ball is the perfect example of a business owner who has directly benefited from government help.

“The recovery act helped some small business get access to capital,” among other things, pointed out Obama supporter Del. Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond)

read and see the full story on NBC12.com

 Meanwhile, McDonnell heads to Iowa tomorrow along with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. Both are considered contenders in the VP stakes.

McDonnell won’t talk about VP prospects

Despite my best efforts, Governor Bob McDonnell refused to entertain any notion of his prospects as a potential running mate for Mitt Romney.

The Governor was hosting an event Wednesday for Romney at a Richmond small business. He is headed to Iowa on Romney’s behalf on Thursday.

He did make a few jokes, perhaps hinted at a future presidential run, but flatly refused to talk about any role he may play on the GOP 2012 ticket.

Here is our exchange:

But we did learn that he thinks Iowa has nice cows this time of year.

Buying A Voice: Restore our Future

Many of the ads you see supporting republican candidate for president Mitt Romney or hammering president Barack Obama come from committees that raise big bucks, but aren’t officially part of the campaign.

One of them is the group “Restore our Future”. They have already spent close to $54 million dollars in 2012.

One of their ads running in Virginia picks up on a claim President Obama made during a White House briefing. The president said the private sector was “doing fine”. It accuses the president of being out of touch, for claiming the private sector did not need help.

You can see the ad below:

So who is “Restore Our Future?”

They are a “Super Pac” with the ability to raise and spend unlimited amounts of cash in support of candidates legally. Something they have done incredibly well to this point.

“Restore Our Future” has spent a little more than $53 million, all to help the presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney.

The bulk of their spending, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, has been to hit republicans. They have spent more than $39 million used to attack Romney’s primary opponents.

Now they are focused on the president, investing close to $7.5 million on ads like the “doing fine” ad, attacking his record.

“Restore Our Future” has picked up big donations. From a relatively small group of donors, among them is Las Vegas tycoon billionaire Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miram.  According to the NY Times the two have collectively they have invested $10 million dollars in “Restore Our Future”.

But that is actual a small part of the Adelson’s contribution to the 2012 campaign. Up until Romney secured the primary the two invested heavily in his opponent Newt Gingrich. Their total spending has been a whopping $35 million dollars, so far.

Adelson is not the only big money donor. Restore Our Future has also picked up checks of $3 million dollars from Texas housing billionaire Bob Perry, and $1 million from New York hedge fund manager John Paulson.

All told, Restore Our Future’s piggy bank has raked in close to $60 million dollars, and there is still three months to go before Election Day.

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Here is where we got our information:

*The Center for Responsive Politics has the list of Restore our Future’s known donors.

*The Center for Responsive Politics has a breakdown of how Restore Our Future has spent it’s cash.

*The NY Times reports on the donation given by the Adelson family.

*Restore Our Future’s web site can be found here.