Romney Campaign Said to Ask Scott to Downplay Job Gains

By Michael C. Bender -
Jun 21, 2012 12:32 PM GMT


Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign
asked Florida Governor Rick Scott to tone down his statements
heralding improvements in the state’s economy because they clash
with the presumptive Republican nominee’s message that the
nation is suffering under President Barack Obama, according to
two people familiar with the matter.
Scott, a Republican, was asked to say that the state’s
jobless rate could improve faster under a Romney presidency,
according to the people, who asked not to be named.


June 21 (Bloomberg) --
Richard Grasso, former chairman and chief executive officer of the New
York Stock Exchange, talks about Republican presidential candidate Mitt
Romney.
Grasso, speaking with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television's "In the
Loop," also discusses high-frequency trading and regulatory oversight of
exchanges. (Source: Bloomberg)
What’s unfolding in Florida highlights a dilemma for the
Romney campaign: how to allow Republican governors to take
credit for economic improvements in their states while faulting
Obama’s stewardship of the national economy. Republican
governors in Ohio, Virginia, Michigan and Wisconsin also have
highlighted improving economies. Scott should follow the advice of the Romney campaign and
it won’t undermine his own message, said Mac Stipanovich, a
political strategist and lobbyist in Florida. “This is one of those situations where you could have it
both ways and there’s enough truth in it that it would
resonate,” Stipanovich said. “It would be better if everybody
was singing from the same hymnal.” New Poll Romney’s campaign is eager to sell its economy message in
Florida, one of the most competitive electoral battlegrounds,
where the past three presidential races were decided by 5
percentage points or less. Obama leads Romney, 46 percent to 42
percent, in a Quinnipiac University poll released today, a shift
from May when the Republican was in the lead, 47 percent to 41
percent. A Romney adviser made the request this week to Scott’s
staff after press releases from the governor’s re-election
campaign and Internet messages from the Florida Chamber of
Commerce trumpeted the state’s drop to 8.6 percent unemployment
rate in May from 8.7 percent in April, the people said. The
national unemployment rate is 8.2 percent. Scott’s news release said the jobless rate had dropped 11
consecutive months in Florida and asked supporters to “spread
the news” on Facebook, Twitter and by e-mailing their friends. Television Ad Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in an e-mail
that Romney frequently praises governors “for their ability to
overcome the job-stifling policies of the Obama
administration.” Scott spokesman Lane Wright didn’t return
phone calls seeking comment. Romney hasn’t campaigned with Scott, a first-term governor,
whose approval rating is 39 percent, according to a poll
yesterday from Quinnipiac, in Hamden, Connecticut. That’s down
from 41 percent on May 24. Romney’s staff has concluded there’s no benefit in
appearing with Scott, said two campaign advisers who asked for
anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter. The state Republican party ran a television ad in March
crediting Scott, who is a year and a half into a four-year term,
for drops in the unemployment rate. “Companies are hiring, expanding, putting more Floridians
to work,” the ad narrator said. “Florida’s unemployment rate
continues to get better.” Unemployment Rate Florida’s jobless rate was 11.1 percent in December 2010
before Scott took office and 8.2 percent two years earlier when
Obama was sworn-in. “The first time I saw that ad I initially thought it was
an Obama ad,” said Brad Coker, managing director of the
Washington-based Mason-Dixon Polling & Research. “They’ll have
to tamp it down.” Two months later, Crossroads GPS, a super-political action
committee that is supporting Romney, was on television in
Florida with a spot featuring a female character saying her kids
“can’t find jobs.” “Unemployment Rate Stays High,” says a mock newspaper
headline in the ad. In Ohio, Governor John Kasich has been publicly touting the
state’s falling unemployment rate and 75,700 jobs added during
the past year. Rob Nichols, a Kasich spokesman, said the Romney
campaign hasn’t asked the governor to change that message. Columbus Event Kasich’s comments may appear to conflict with Romney’s. The
two Republicans campaigned at an April 27 event at Otterbein
University in suburban Columbus where Romney described a
difficult job market for graduating seniors and Kasich talked
about the state’s unfilled jobs. Asked about the conflict after a May 17 speech in Columbus,
Kasich told reporters that although Ohio’s economy is improving,
“uncertainty” from the president’s policies on health care,
taxes and regulation “puts wind in our face” that would change
if Romney were elected. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on June 19 called Michigan
“the comeback state of the United States,” noting its jobless
rate dropped to 8.5 percent in May from 14.2 percent in August
2009. “We still need to do better,” Snyder said. “The whole
country needs to do better.” Geralyn Lasher, a spokeswoman for Snyder, said the Romney
campaign hasn’t asked the governor to downplay economic
improvements. Economic Gains In Virginia, Governor Robert McDonnell’s Opportunity
Virginia political action committee aired an ad in April that
touts gains in the economy since he took office in 2010. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker said economic progress was
a key component of his successful defense against a June 5
recall election. Walker pointed to the state’s unemployment
rate, which was 6.8 percent in May, down from 7.7 percent when
he took office in January 2011. In Florida, signs of a sagging economy remain.

The 18 percent of Florida mortgages in foreclosure or 90
days past due is the highest rate in the country, according to
the Mortgage Bankers Association. Commercial buildings remain
vacant across the state. “Until you start seeing physical signs of those things
starting to fill up again, I just don’t think people are going
to believe a government statistic that life is getting better
for them,” said Coker, the Mason-Dixon polling executive. To contact the reporter on this story:
Michael C. Bender in Tallahassee at
mbender10@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Merelman at
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