Lobbying

AFL-CIO’s super-PAC to begin running ads targeting Mitt Romney

by Kevin Bogardus - 05/07/12 10:00 AM ET

The AFL-CIO’s super-PAC will began running its first round of ads Monday to target presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Workers’ Voice will run online ads taking issue with Romney, saying he will be “president for the 1 percent,” that he thinks “corporations are people” and that the candidate is a “corporate outsourcer” and “vulture capitalist.” The ads include the infamous picture of Romney when he was at Bain Capital, posing with some of the firm’s partners, holding cash in their hands.

{mosads}Michael Podhorzer, AFL-CIO’s political director, said the ads were “the first step” by the federation’s super-PAC to combine labor’s organizing strength with online technology.

“These grassroots ads are just the first step in our efforts to combine old fashioned organizing energy with cutting edge technology,” said Podhorzer, in a statement. “Our activists across the country will be hitting the ground running with the ability to begin taking action later this week.”

The online ad buy will cost $500,000, according to a Workers’ Voice spokesman.

The ads will run across several online platforms, including search engine websites, Facebook and Twitter. They will target union and non-union workers and will run nationwide, with heavier play expected in swing states like Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Further, 15 to 25 percent of the ads will be in Spanish, according to the spokesman.

Workers’ Voice will soon grant access to people who sign up online to its new field tools. This will allow them to participate in the super-PAC’s first round of campaigning for the 2012 election, which will be announced later this week. The more activists participate by phone banking, canvassing or volunteering in the field for the super-PAC, the more “points” they earn towards being able to direct how the group allocates its resources.

Workers’ Voice has close to $4.1 million in cash on hand, according to Federal Election Commission records.