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rulemylife -> Dems try to tap voter anger over job loss overseas (9/18/2010 7:33:38 AM)
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Dems try to tap voter anger over job loss overseas
WASHINGTON – Businessman Randy Altschuler had barely won a Republican primary for Congress when New York Democratic Rep. Tim Bishop unleashed a television ad christening him an "outsourcing pioneer" who sent jobs overseas while millions of Americans struggle.
"The company is really about Sri Lanka, the Philippines, wherever we could find the best talent," Altschuler is shown saying in the commercial, while ominous music plays in the background. In case viewers miss the point, an announcer adds that Altschuler "made millions outsourcing jobs."
The 39-year-old first-time political candidate stands out for having spoken candidly on camera about the benefit of foreign workers. But with Democrats struggling for political traction on the economy in midterm elections, candidates in all regions of the country are accusing Republicans of having personally sent jobs overseas or at least protecting companies that do.
.....In many parts of the country, "people think their jobs have gone overseas with a lot of basis in fact," says Steve Murphy, a Democratic campaign consultant.
Adds Pete Brodnitz, a Democratic pollster, "People are trying to figure out what happened to our economy and how do we improve our economy," adding that in their view "you have to get back to policies that really encourage manufacturing in America and making things in America."
In California, where unemployment stood at 12.3 percent in July, Sen. Barbara Boxer recently began running a commercial that says Republican candidate Carly Fiorina laid off 30,000 workers while she was CEO of computer giant Hewlett-Packard. "When you're talking about massive layoffs, which we did, perhaps the work needs to be done somewhere else," Fiorina says in the ad. The announcer adds, "Fiorina shipped jobs to China, and while Californians lost their jobs, Fiorina tripled her salary, bought a million dollar yacht and five corporate jets."
In Ohio, where joblessness was most recently calculated at 10.3 percent, Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland is wielding a similar club against Republican challenger John Kasich. An ad that started running statewide in late August shows Nilda Ramos of Lorain, Ohio, saying her husband was laid off in 2006 from a job he had held for 22 years at Invacare, a manufacturer of wheelchairs and other medical equipment.
"John Kasich sat on Invacare's board as a director and signed off on jobs being outsourced and sent to China and Mexico," she says. "I believe they sent those jobs overseas so they could make more profit."
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