After largely ignoring Mitt Romney during Saturday's debate in New Hampshire, the Republican candidates have started attacking the front-runner where it hurts most: his economic résumé. A new 28-minute television advertisement focusing on Romney's time at Bain Capital has the most potential to hurt the candidate given that the former governor touts his experience there as indicative of his ability to fix the U.S. economy. Newt Gingrich-supporting Super PAC "Winning Our Future" produced the film. The advertisement strikes back at Romney's $3.7 million-worth of negative, anti-Gingrich advertising in Iowa, which effectively ruined the former speaker's end-of-the-year momentum.
A report today from The Wall Street Journal lends even more ammunition to Gingrich's last-minute attacks on Romney's credentials: 22 percent of the companies Bain invested in while Romney was in charge filed for bankruptcy less than eight years later, and eight percent more lost all the money Bain invested. Of the ten companies reaping the most profit for Bain, four ended up in bankruptcy court. The attacks may be too late to stop Mitt Romney from winning the nomination, but they will severely weaken him in a general-election race.
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Chart of the Day
Private-sector jobs fared well in 2011, logging the best year for growth since 2005. This chart shows monthly job growth since the beginning of the recession, with red columns signifying change in jobs during the Bush administration, and blue columns for Obama's. The private sector added 1.89 million jobs in 2011, ahead of 2010's 1.2 million, and well ahead of 2009's 5 million jobs lost.
Reason to Get Out of Bed in the Morning
Paychecks for federal workers may go up for the first time since December 2010. The White House announced on Friday that it plans to introduce a 0.5 percent pay increase in the 2013 budget proposal.
-CNN
