While the Romney campaign agrees that it’s better to hit a “rough spot” in the campaign during the Summer months that to get attacked in the Fall, will Romney be able to effectively recover after the barrage of attacks concerning Bain Capital and the relentless discussion concerning his tax returns? Romney campaign officials are confident that the debate will reverse back towards the economy after the Republican convention, many are concerned that these attacks may have longer lasting effects.
The Obama campaign has been using offensive attacks on Bain Capital for months. Recent news articles questioning the entirety of Romney’s tenure and departure dates at Bain though have reignited these attacks and have caused focus to return to Romney business experience and as a side effect his tax history. For the past week there has been a constant push for Romney to release his back tax returns. Surprisingly these pleas are coming not only from the Democratic left but from prominent members of the GOP as well.
While recent polls still indicate that the race to the White House is neck and neck, the Summer attacks are taking their toll in crucial swing states. By challenging Romney’s business experience and character independent voters are shifting their perceptions on the GOP nominee. Some of this comes from Romney’s reluctance to address the issues in a timely manner, or at all. A recent poll shows that over half of Americans and a third of Republican’s want Romney to address the issue of his tax returns, and to be more transparent to the American people. Romney’s reluctance to do so will only cause his campaign to be swept up in the Obama attack ads again and again.
The Summer campaigns are usually a calmer event, but this summer with such political divide negative ads from both campaigns are at an all time high. To survive both campaigns need to effectively address and counter the attacks, if not these issues will likely haunt their campaigns until November.
