the ad features former steelworker joe soptic. it tells joe's story after he was laid off from a plant closed by bain capital. romney went on right-wing radio today and called the ad inaccurate. >> you know, in the past when people pointed out that something was inaccurate, why, campaigns either pulled the ad, they were embarrassed. today they just blast ahead. >> really? mitt romney wants campaigns to pull inaccurate ads? someone should ask mitt romney why he didn't pull this campaign ad. president obama is quoting john mccain, but the romney camp edits it to make it sound like the president is talking about himself. >> it's going to take a new direction. if we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose. >> or what about -- what about the ad accusing president obama of not visiting israel, even though only two presidents ever visited israel during his first term. >> over the past four years, president obama has traveled all over the world. he's traveled all over the middle east, yet he hasn't found time to visit our ally

the ad features former steelworker joe soptic. it tells joe's story after he was laid off from a plant closed by bain capital. romney called the ad inaccurate. >> you know, in the past when people pointed out that something was inaccurate, why, campaigns either pulled the ad, they were embarrassed. today they just blast ahead. >> really? mitt romney wants campaigns to pull inaccurate ads? someone should ask mitt romney why he didn't pull this campaign ad. president obama is quoting john mccain, but the romney camp edits it to make it sound like the president is talking about himself. >> it's going to take a new direction. if we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose. >> or what about -- what about the ad accusing president obama of not visiting israel, even though only two presidents ever visited israel during his first term. >> over the past four years, president obama has traveled all over the world. he's traveled all over the middle east, yet he hasn't found time to visit our ally and friend, israel. >> i don't rem

i hear it from callers on my rate joe show every day about how joe soptic's situation is very relatable to them. here's another thing the middle class workers, i believe, understand in this country, the idea of workers not being recycled back into the economy. you know, when joe soptic lost his job, well, he was making $46,000 a year plus benefit at the mill. six months later, he finally found another job. it paid him around $15,000 a year as a janitor, no benefits. republicans can whine and complain all they want about this commercial, but you see, it does not hit below the belt. i think it hits right in the heart of the problems facing the middle class in this country, and just a reminder to democrats who are out on the stump trying to get elected, just remember to show your constituents or people that you want to have vote for you, show them the vulture chart. this is all you need to know. because this play s right to the income gap in this country. the people down on the blue line where their wages have been for the last 30 years, when they lose their job, they can't afford health c

put yourself for a moment in joe soptic's shoes, the soptic family. with affordable health care coverage, his wife would have had a fighting chance. this is a kitchen table issue that hits every american family, health care. how much it costs, and just how good is it? and guess who doesn't have to deal with this, with that kind of a worry, the very people who are in washington who vote on health care legislation. health care is dictated by the most secure members of society. that's right, three-term senators have it pretty damn good. the politicians and beltway types don't experience the problems of people like joe soptic and his family. middle class workers, they get it. i hear every day about how joe soptic's situation is very relatable to them. here's another thing the middle class workers, i believe, understand in this country, the idea of workers not being recycled back into the economy. you know, when joe soptic lost his job, well, he was making $46,000 a year plus benefit at the mill. six months later, he finally found another job. it paid him

i don't know the facts of when joe soptic's wife got sick or died. but i don what mitt romney did with u.s. steel and how joe soptic lost his job and lost his health care. >> sean: conference call. may. joe soptic and listen to the end where he said, i will turn it back to stephanie. and stephanie says, thank you, joe. we really appreciate you and david sharing your story. >> a little while later, she was diagnosed with lung cancer. i had to put her in a county hospital because she didn't have health care. when the cancer took her away, all i got was an enormous bill. when you look at what mitt romney did in places like u.s. steel, you can tell he's only worried about one group of people, the people like him, the people at the top. you can't expect much more from someone who says he likes to fire people, with no concern about what their family really means. now i will turn the call back over to stephanie. >> thank you, joe. we really appreciate you and david sharing your experiences. >> sean: i guess the question we have here is... he's the same pers

put yourself for a moment in joe soptic's shoes, the soptic family. with affordable health care coverage, his wife would have had a fighting chance. this is a kitchen table issue that hits every american family, health care. how much it costs, and just how good is it? and guess who doesn't have to deal with this, with that kind of a worry, the very people who are in washington who vote on health care legislation. health care is dictated by the most secure members of society. that's right, three-term senators have it pretty damn good. the politicians and beltway types don't experience the problems of people like joe soptic and his family. middle class workers get it. i hear eve day about how joe soptic's situation is very relatable to them. here's another thing the middle class workers, i believe, understand in this country, the idea of workers not being recycled back into the economy, you know, when joe soptic lost his job, well, he was making $46,000 a year plus benefit at the mill. six months later, he finally found another job. it paid him around $

i doesn't know the facts of when joe soptic's wife got sick or when she died. >> i turn the call back over. >> thank you, joe. really appreciate you and david sharing your experiences. >> goes on to say he told his story on that conference call. >> the campaign is not connected to the super pac as they are not on the romney side either. the super pac are always former staffers always close associates. in the case of mitt romney's campaign super pac a person went over to his campaign. everyone in that home should know they are interconnected. ner not supposed to coordinate the obama campaign says when you calm the steam workers and they provide you someone whose life was ruined by bain capital. several men describe what bain capital did to their lives. never had they talked about someone dying they talk about losing their house but they never talked about this. hard to believe people couldn't remember one of them said his wife died of cancer. the implication is mitt romney is responsible for her death. it is extremely offensive. whether they coordinate it or not it is incorrect and out

joe soptic suffered when he lost his job and the arve math of the gst steel plant closing. no one is denying that he discussed that when he appeared in the campaign advertisement on a conference call. the important point here is that mitt romney's campaign is based solely on his experience as a corporate buy-out specialist." again, said it on a conference call. >> yeah, i mean we go back to the same two themes. at the same time we talk about the polls earlier. they show overwhelmingly the number one issue for people out there is the economy. that is what they're worried about. 49%. the next closest thing is healthcare. 19%. i mean, these are the issues that i think people are focused on as opposed to the nuances, within the ads of what is true and what is not. >> bret: it's a good thing we are going to talk about the economy next with our panel from new york. and how it plays in the election. >>> they vote to re-elect president obama, they have a good idea what is coming. it will be chronic high levels of unemployment. as far as the eye can see. stagnant wage growth. and th

it's about joe soptic, who lost his job when bain capital shut down gst steel. he'll talk about the ramifications of that on the health of his wife. watch this. >> when mitt romney and bain closed the plant i lost my healthcare. my family lost their healthcare. a short time after that my wife became ill. i don't know how long she was sick. i think she didn't say anything because she knew we couldn't afford the insurance. one day she became ill. i took her up to the jackson county hospital, and admitted her for pneumonia. that's when they found the cancer. by then it was stage iv. she passed away in 22 days. >> cenk: now wait a minute, is that fair? every time you close a plant or someone loses a job is the person who made that decision responsible for the healthcare of all those people going forward? well, jayar is going to come out and say yeah, that's absolutely fair. that's a tough tough ad. here is another problem with it. that plant closed in 2001. unfortunately mrs. soptic passed away in 2006. hard to connect those two events. we'll talk about that in a li

he said if joe soptic and his wife lived in massachusetts they would have benefitted from his health care mandate. >> it's unfortunate when anyone loses their job. this was a plant closed years after governor romney left the company, and to that point, if people had been in massachusetts under governor romney's health care plan, they would have had health care. there's a lot of people losing jobs and health care in the obama's presidency. >> some were quick to react to that. erick erickson said this may have been when romney lost the election. moments later, romney talked about it in iowa. >> i know how to make a better setting than the one we have. those with pre-existing conditions need to get insurance. >> as president, romney vowed to repeal the president's health care law maintaining that while it worked in massachusetts, the federal government should not force other states to do the same. fighting is becoming more desperate for rebels clinging to positions in aleppo. they have been fired on with tanks and some 20,000 troops. rebels say they're outgunned, running low on ammuniti

. >> reporter: joe soptic worked at u.s. steel in missouri almost 30 years, was laid off after bain capital acquired the plant, eventually closing it down. now soptic is featured in an ad by priorities usa action, the super pac supporting obama's re-election. >> when mitt romney closed the plant, i lost my health care and my family lost their health care, and a short time after that, my wife became ill. then i took her up to jackson county hospital and admitted her for pneumonia, that's when they found the cancer. by then it was stage four, there was nothing they could do for her. >> it is a hard breaking story, but the ad doesn't tell all of it. 1999, mitt romney leaves for the salt lake olympics. he remains ceo. in 2001, joe soptic loses his job when bain closes the plant. his wife still has insurance from her employer, savers thrift store. a year later, romney leaves bain, and it is that year, 2002 or 2002 soptic tells cnn that his wife leaves her job because of an injury. she became insured without fall back insurance fr

. >> i don't know the facts of when joe soptic's wife got sick or when she died. as i said before, i do know the facts of what mitt romney did with gs steel and how joe sop tabic lost his job and lost his healthcare. >> much more from someone who says he likes to fire people. with no con season about what their -- concern about what their family really means. now i turn the call back over to stephanie. >> thank you, joe. we really appreciate you and david sharing your experienc experiences. >> bret: well, it's an interesting day talking about a specific ad. ad run by the democratic super pac priorities usa and features that man, joe soptic, who was let go of steel factory. once run by bain capital. the obama campaign spent a lot of the day today explaining how they didn't really know anything about the cancer story. as you heard there, joe was on a conference call with stephanie cutter of the obama campaign. what about this and the rest of the day's political news? bring in the panel. in new york, paul gigot, editorial page editor for the "wall street journal." me

the man in the ad named joe soptic explains after bain capital shut down the steel plant where he worked he lost his job, his health insurance and then he lost his wife to cancer. and for many, the ad seems to imply a cause and effect relationship. the obama re-election campaign has insisted that they were not familiar with the man's story in the ad. obama deputy campaign manager stefphanie cutter said yesterda, quote, i don't know the facts about when mr. soptic's wife got sick or the facts about his health insurance. we'll stop right there. >> mika, i hate to interrupt on the news. >> i know. that's all right. >> i don't interrupt. it's not my thing. >> i know. >> but if they didn't know, they didn't know, so let's just move on. >> i kind of can't. >> she said they didn't know. >> they don't know. >> no, they know. >> what's this all about? >> they know. >> here's the problem. >> but wait, they said they didn't know. just yesterday. >> not supposed to know. >> this guy, really, he probably -- where did he come from? they don't know him. joe who? we know a couple joes. joe biden and joe

>> joe soptic is he another sandra? >> he will be used up. he's a prop. that's all he is. obama knows the best defense is a good offense. this is offensive. >> i am waiting your mama wears combat boots ad. >> my mom did wear combat boots. >> she did? >> love your mom. >> so cute. >> mr. president take a break from the fundraising denounce these gorilla political ads. it is unbecoming of the office. romney has a super pack ad. >> whatever happened to a campaign of hope and change? i thought he was a new kind of politician. >> isn't it time for mitt to get really fired up? >> kimberly is always fired up and she is honest. questions. when you're caring for a loved one with alzheimer's, not a day goes by that you don't have them. questions about treatment where to go for extra help, how to live better with the disease. so many questions, where do you start? alzheimers.gov. the answers start here. >> mitt romney made his first public comments about the pro super owe pact ads. >> i think some of the ads out there. whatever happened to a campaign of hope and change? i thought he

it's about joe soptic. do you know mitt romney's bain capital did not go bankrupt along with gst steel. they did not even lose any money. they only put in $8 million. they got their $8 million back and they made $12 million profit on top and then made $4.5 million in consulting fees. they more than doubled their money, and they got their tax advantage all throughout when they had gst steel and the company goes under and they laugh, ha, ha, ha, too bad suckers at gst. we got paid. somebody else pays the taxes. we got paid and you got laid off. and when joe soptic has the nerve to complain about it and his wife got ill and he had no insurance, she decide of cancer. this is his business model. not just for marriott, not just when he was on the board but it's personnel life, switzerland switzerland, cayman islands, bermuda. this is what this guy does. he hides his money. cayman islands is not an aberration. it's how mitt romney does business. that's how he amassed all this wealth. people keep asking why did it

keeping them honest, they ought to have at least some knowledge for joe soptic and his family. they used him in one of their own campaign ads. >> we're a reputation for quamity products. something american made. we were not rich, but i was able to put my daughter through college. >> that was joe soptic in an earlier ad for the obama 2012 campaign. we have bill from priority actions. "the washington post" said about your ad on just every levelhis stretches the bounds of common sense and decency and independent fact checkers say it's inaccurate. how can you imply that mitt romney and bain are to blame for that poor woman dying of cancer. >> my goodness, we don't an we would not. the fact checks are saying that's what we are trying to do. the point of the ad is to tell the story of the impact that mitt romney had on the lives of thousands of people. they lost their jobs and health care and pension benefits. that impact is felt still today in those communities. >> you spent and you are a smart guy and had a lot of smart ad people in the group you are working with. half the ad is hi

. >> that was joe soptic in an earlier ad for the obama 2012 campaign. bill, let's talk about this. "the washington post" says about your ad, it stretches the bounds of decency. how can you imply that mitt romney and bain are somehow to blame for that poor woman dying of cancer. >> we don't and we're not. those facts checks presuppose that's what we're trying to do. the point of the ad is to tell the story of the sbablth that he had on thousands of people. and that impact is felt still today in those communities. >> but you spent, i mean, you're a smart guy, you have a lot of smart ad people in the group that you're working with. half the ad is him talking about his wife's demise. and it ends with him saying i do not think that mitt romney realizes what he's done to anyone. the implication is clearly that he is responsible or what the actions he took led to his wife's death. >> you know, the story is a very sad one. and the truth is that there are thousands of stories that are, that happened as a result of mitt romney and his time at bain. and some of them are really tragic. but jus

keeping them honest, they ought to have at least some knowledge for joe soptic and his family. they used him in one of their own campaign ads. >> we're a reputation for quamity products. something american made. we were not rich, but i was able to put my daughter through college. >> that was joe soptic in an earlier ad for the obama 2012 campaign. we have bill from priority actions. "the washington post" said about your ad on just every level this stretches the bounds of common sense and decency and independent fact checkers say it's inaccurate. how can you imply that mitt romney and bain are to blame for that poor woman dying of cancer. >> my goodness, we don't and we would not. the fact checks are saying that's what we are trying to do. the point of the ad is to tell the story of the impact that mitt romney had on the lives of thousands of people. they lost their jobs and health care and pension benefits. that impact is felt still today in those communities. >> you spent and you are a smart guy and had a lot of smart ad people in the group you are working with. half the ad is

it features a laid off steelworker named joe soptic. >> i lost my health care and my family lost their health care. a short time after that, my wife became ill. i don't know how long she was sick. i think maybe she didn't say anything because she knew we couldn't afford the insurance. one day she became ill. and i took her up to the jackson county hospital. they admitted her for pneumonia. and that's when they found the cancer. by then, it was stage 4. there was nothing they can could do for her. she passed away in 22 days. >> that's a very sad story. keeping them honest, though. as sad and heart wrenching as the loss of a job and a spouse is, virtually nothing else about the story fits into the timeline and the facts. romney was ceo when the steel mill shut down and he left two years before to run the olympics. he was still listed as ceo and had a hand in how the company handled. he said his wife was ill a short time when romney closed the plants and it was bain health care. turns out it was years in 2006 when he wife unfortunately died. in addition, we spoke to mr. soptic and he said

. >> that was joe soptic in an earlier ad for the obama 2012 campaign. this is a spokesperson for parties usa action. let's start now. "the washington post" says about your ad, "on every level this stretches the bounds of common sense and decency." independent fact checkers have echoed that statement saying it's inaccurate. how can you imply that mitt romney and bain are so blame for this woman dying of cancer? >> we don't, and we would not. those fact checks presuppose that's exactly what we were trying to do, and that's not the point of the ad. the point of the ad is to tell the story of the impact mitt romney had on the lives of thousands of people. when he came to town, they lost their jobs, lost their health care, lost their pension benefits, and that impact is felt today in those communities. >> you spent -- you're a smart guy. you have a lot of smart ad people in the group you're working with. half the ad is him talking about his wife's demise, and it ends with him saying, i do not think mitt romney realizes what he's done to anyone. the implicati

what we're saying is that joe soptic was fired from his job and as a result of that, he wasn't able to get -- he wasn't about to hold on to health care benefits promised to him and as a result when his wife got sick he didn't have health care. >> his wife was diagnosed six years after mitt romney effectively left bain capital, effectively left '99. >> the ceo until 2002. >> in '99 went to run the olympic games -- >> most people think when yer au the ceo you're responsible for the decisions of that organization. >> he was the ceo, the sole shareholder he's responsible for the decisions that were made. >> you know, mika, nobody's buying what bill burton is saying for good reason. it's indefensible the facts don't line up. mark halperin, in this very preers have political world in which we live, is this a good career move for bill burton whose priorities usa super pac will be now flooded by millions of dollars from contributors who don't want to be bothered with facts? it happens on the right, joe wilson says shut up to the president or "you lie" to the president, he makes lots of money,

. >> that was joe soptic in an earlier ad for the obama 2012 campaign. this is a spokesperson for parties usa action. let's start now. "the washington post" says about your ad, "on every level this stretches the bounds of common sense and decency." independent fact checkers have echoed that statement saying it's inaccurate. how can you imply that mitt romney and bain are so blame for this woman dying of cancer? >> we don't, and we would not. those fact checks presuppose that's exactly what we were trying to do, and that's not the point of the . the point of the ad is to tell the story of the impact mitt romney had on the lives of thousands of people. when he came to town, they lost their jobs, lost their health care, lost their pension benefits, and that impact is felt today in those communities. >> you spent -- you're a smart guy. you have a lot of smart ad people in the group you're working with. half the ad is him talking about his wife's demise, and it ends with him saying, i do not think mitt romney realizes what he's done to anyone. the implication

>> joe soptic is he another sandra? >> he will be used up. he's a prop. that's all he is. obama knows the best defense is a good offense. this is offensive. >> i am waiting your mama wears combat boots ad. >> my mom did wear combat boots. >> she did? >> love your mom. >> so cute. >> mr. president take a break from the fundraising denounce these gorilla political ads. it is unbecoming of the office. romney has a super pack ad. >> whatever happened to a campaign of hope and change? i thought he was a new kind of politician. >> isn't it time for mitt to get really fired up? >> kimberly is always fired up and she is honest. [ male announcer ] if it wasn't for a little thing called the computer, we might still be making mix tapes. find this. pause this. play this. eject this. write this. it's like the days before esurance express lane™. you had to find a bunch of documents just to get a car insurance quote. now express lane finds your driving info with just one click, saving time to be nostalgic about the days before express lane. thank you, insurance for the modern world. es

. >> that was joe soptic in an earlier ad for the obama 2012 campaign. bill is a senior strategist. he joins us now. bill, let's talk about this. "the washington post" says about your ad, it stretches the bounds of common sense and decency. independent fact checkers have said it is inaccurate. how can you imply that mitt romney and bain are somehow to blame for that poor woman dying of cancer. >> we don't and we're not. those facts checks presuppose that's what we're trying to do. that's not the point of the ad. the point of the ad is to tell the story of the impact that he had on thousands of people. when he came to town, they lost their job, their pension benefits. that impact is felt still today in those communities. >> but you spent, i mean, you're a smart guy, you have a lot of smart ad people in the group that you're working with. half the ad is him talking about his wife's demise. and it ends with him saying i do not think that mitt romney realizes what he's done to anyone. the implication is clearly that he is responsible or what the actions he took led to his wife's death.

as we talk about the steel, joe soptic was one of the members. they were determined that the bain model was determined to load the company with debt and poot a noose around the corporation's neck so what that when the economy goes sideways, they put the company in bankruptcy and fired all the workers similar to what they did in florida. in america when you lose your job, you lose your health care. that's what president obama is trying to fix. >> after hearing joe's story, do you think this is below the belt? the use of this story in an ad, it's slanderous? >> absolutely not. absolutely not. this is the story that joe soptic has about what it did to him and his family and probably many, many other people like that who had their lives destroyed and had their families destroy and remove the inability to get health care and be able to send their kids to college because we outsourced and yauf shored millions of jobs. >> war what do you say to those who say she got sick three years after the plant was killed. we hoof worked there for 20 years if given

>> joe soptic is he another sandra? >> he will be used up. he's a prop. that's all he is. obama knows the best defense is a good offense. this is offensive. >> i am waiting your mama wears combat boots ad. >> my mom did wear combat boots. >> she did? >> love your mom. >> so cute. >> mr. president take a break from the fundraising denounce these gorilla political ads. it is unbecoming of the office. romney has a super pack ad. >> whatever happened to a campaign of hope and change? i thought he was a new kind of politician. >> isn't it time for mitt to get really fired up? >> kimberly is always fired up and she is honest. questions. when you're caring for a loved one with alzheimer's, not a day goes by that you don't have them. questions about treatment where to go for extra help, how to live better with the disease. so many questions, where do you start? alzheimers.gov. the answers start here. >> mitt romney made his first public comments about the pro supe owe pact ads. >> i think some of the ads out there. whatever happened to a campaign of hope and change? i thought he w

soptic's wife got sick or died, but i know the facts of what mitt romney did with g.s. steel. >> they'll put y'all back in chains. >> he strapped the family dog to the roof of the car. >> i think the agenda of the republican party, and of mitt romney, has clearly been interpreted as an attack on the issues that matter to women. >> their plan is let's have dirtier air, dirtier water. >> he's speaking to that friend out there who do not want to see anybody other than a white person in a leadership position. >> it's thinly veiled social darwinism. some are middle-class families who have children with autism or down's syndrome. these are the people who count on medicaid. >> this president has no moral courage. he's leading the slander, smear, besmirchment campaign. >> he is. his poll was about 10 points above his job approval in march and april, in the mid 50s. job approval in the mid 40s. he's fallen 20 points in personal favorability. so it now lags, his job rating, as opposed to building on it. that's because of the montage you just played. these are shots -- at the same

it's about joe soptic. do you know mitt romney's bain capital did not go bankrupt along with gst steel. they did not even lose any money. they only put in $8 million. they got their $8 million back and they made $12 million profit on top and then made $4.5 million in consulting fees. they more than doubled their money, and they got their tax advantage all throughout when they had gst steel and the company goes under and they laugh, ha, ha, ha, too bad suckers at gst. we got paid. somebody else pays the taxes. we got paid and you got laid off. and when joe soptic has the nerve to complain about it and his wife got ill and he had no insurance, she decide of cancer. this is his business model. not just for marriott, not just when he was on the board but it's personnel life, switzerland switzerland, cayman islands, bermuda. this is what this guy does. he hides his money. cayman islands is not an aberration. it's how mitt romney does business. that's how he amassed all this wealth. people keep asking, why did it

what we're saying is that at a moment of true concern and anxiety in a family when joe soptic really needed health insurance for his family, he didn't have it. he was promised health care benefits and he lost them. >> you claim -- you really claim -- you really want people to believe you're not trying to link in any way even just subtly or not subtly that there's some linkage between mitt romney, bain campaign, business decisions he made and her death. >> it would defy logic to do so. today that community is completely worn down. the whole area, the factory is abandoned. people still don't have jobs in some cases. many folks still don't have health insurance. people who do have jobs are being paid much less. and the point is that mitt romney's business experience had a profound effect on the lives of thousands of people. that effect is still being felt. and that's what this ad tells the story of. that's what all our ads tell the story of. >> i don't want to go back and forth on this, but this ad tells a specific story. more than half the ad is him talking very detailed about his wife

there's an ad that features joe soptic and a reference to his wife passing away. clearly the obama campaign, not just the super pac, is trying to use that, trying to score some points with that. >> well, there's no doubt that top obama campaign officials, top leaders in the democratic party, have endorsed not the ad but they've endorsed the super pac that bill burton, a former deputy white house press secretary, runs, together with others, who used to work directly in the obama administration or the first obama campaign. the president said the right thing. he tried to walk away from that ad as forcefully as he can. others in the white house and in the campaign should have said two weeks ago what the president said today. that he never believes that mitt romney was responsible for the death of this woman. >> are these attacks you think having an effect? are they actually working? >> i think they're working more for president obama than they are for mitt romney. president obama maintains he had a small but a steady lead in the polls. he's also on day after day it's

it features joe soptic, who lost his gst steel job when bain closed the steel plant in 2001. here's his story. >> i don't think mitt romney understands what he has done to people's lives by closing the plant. i don't think he releases that people's lives completely changed. when mitt romney and bain closed the plant i lost my healthcare. my family lost their healthcare. a short time after that my wife became ill. i took her up to the jackson county hospital, and admitted her for pneumonia. that's when they found the cancer. by then it was stage iv. there was nothing they can do for her. >> jennifer: politico notes that joe soptic's wife died in 2006 when romney was governor of massachusetts. here is donny fowler. he has worked on the campaign for the last democratic presidential nominees. he has his own firm and also joining us from washington, d.c. craig crawford. and you can find his trail mix blog at craig crawford.com. and he's the author of "the politics of life." get a little lighter craig. welcome to you both. and thank you for joining me inside "the war room"." donny,

there's a ad that features joe soptic and a reference to his wife passing away. clearly the obama campaign, not just the super pac, is trying to use that, trying to score some points with that. >> well, there's no doubt that top obama campaign officials, top leaders in the democratic party, have endorsed not the ad but they've endorsed the super pac that bill burton, a former deputy white house press secretary, runs, together with others, who used to work directly in the obama administration or the first obama campaign. the president said the right thing. he tried to walk away from that ad as forcefully as he can. others in the white house and in the campaign should have said two weeks ago what the president said today. that he never believes that mitt romney was responsible for the death of this woman. >> are these attacks you think having an effect? are they actually working? >> i think they're working more for president obama than they are for mitt romney. president obama maintains he had a small but a steady lead in the polls. he's also on day after day it's

the ad features former steelworker joe soptic. it tells joe's story after he was laid off from a plant closed by bain capital. romney went on right-wing radio today and called the ad inaccurate. >> you know, in the past when people pointed out that something was inaccurate, why, campaigns either pulled the ad, they were embarrassed. today they just blast ahead. >> really? mitt r

it features joe soptic who lost his gst steel job when bain closed the steel plant in 2001. here's his story. >> i don't think mitt romney understands what he has done to people's lives by closing the plant. i don't think he releases that people's lives completely changed. when mitt romney and bain closed the plant i lost my healthcare. my family lost their healthcare. a short time after that my wife became ill. i took her up to the jackson county hospital, and admitted her for pneumonia. that's when they found the cancer. by then it was stage iv. there was nothing they can do for her. >> jennifer: politico notes that joe soptic's wife died in 2006 when romney was governor of massachusetts. here is donny fowler. he has worked on the campaign for the last democratic presidential nominees. he has his own firm and also joining us from washington, d.c. craig crawford. and you can find his trail mix blog at craig crawford.com. and he's the author of "the politics of life." get a little lighter craig. welcome to you both. and thank you for joining me inside "the war room"." donny,