New Romney ad accuses Obama of cronyism

A new ad from Mitt Romney counters Democrats’ questions about the former Massachusetts governor’s taxes with a question of its own: “Where did all the money go?”

The ad accuses President Obama of paying off supporters with contracts supported by stimulus funds, while adding the accusation that much of the money went overseas.

Romney has been pushing the cronyism attack in press calls and Web videos all week, hoping to regain the offensive after getting hammered by Obama on his record as head of Bain Capital.

“Friends, donors, campaign supporters, special interest groups,” the narrator says over images of money being set on fire. “Solyndra... windmills from China, electric cars from Finland.”

The ad then pivots to a clip of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-.N.Y.) criticizing the stimulus wind energy program, saying “79 percent of the 2.1 billion in stimulus grants awarded through it went to overseas companies.”

The 79 percent number is based on an American University study that is disputed by the Obama administration. The original study also included a caveat, that the fact that the companies receiving the money were based overseas doesn’t mean the jobs resulting from the money were also created overseas. The study author later updated his data to say that 54 percent of money from the project has so far gone to foreign developers.

“The truth is that President Obama’s investments in clean energy—along with the loan guarantee program established under the Bush administration that Romney now attacks—have supported nearly 225,000 jobs in the clean energy sector and have helped bring our dependence on foreign oil to a 16-year low,” said Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith.

Romney has launched new ad buys in a slew of battleground states. According to a Republican media buyer he is spending $1,417,645 in Ohio, $1,207,210 in Virginia, $679,465 in North Carolina, $642,417 in Colorado, $551,540 in Iowa, $473,425 in Nevada and $82,750 in New Hampshire over the next week.

Obama’s campaign, meanwhile, released a new Web video mocking Romney’s complicated response to questions about when he left Bain.