As a Romney guy, most of me wants to applaud the new ad his campaign unveiled today. I’m pleased to see Romney staying with a positive message and within his comfort zone. Given the five people running for president who still have a chance (I’m counting Rudy and Huckabee as half a person each to reflect their long odds), Romney is by far the most economically literate, not to mention the only one who’s spent any considerable time in the private sector. When it comes to financial and economic matters, Romney is extremely creative and solution oriented by nature. It’s his home turf. That kind of subject matter should be the heart of the Romney campaign; if it is, I think he stands an excellent shot of being the nominee and a formidable general election candidate. I would be remiss in my duties as an analyst, however, if I didn’t acknowledge the painfully generic nature of the spot. In the business world, Romney was an outside-the-box kind of thinker; this ad certainly doesn’t convey as much. At the risk of sounding unduly withering, it’s hard to believe that this weak-tea product is the best that Romney’s chosen advertising house can come up with. Maybe it’s “Let the Interns Make the Ads!” week over there. Some people will see this commercial and think, “That guy sounds like he knows what he’s talking about and really understands economic issues.” But I’d wager many more people will see the commercial and think, “I wonder if I have time to go to the bathroom before the game comes back on.”
