Obama takes break from Bain in two new ads

Two new ads from President Obama focus on benefits for veterans and senior citizens, a marked shift from the campaign’s recent ads attacking former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

Obama says he is not dropping its campaign against Romney’s private equity experience, a line of attack that has led to blowback from some Democrats. “This is not a distraction,” Obama said Monday afternoon. “This is what this campaign is going to be about.” In fact, the campaign is buying more air time for “Steel,” a hard-hitting ad about Bain.

But Obama is adding some positive spots to the mix in key swing states.

One of the ads, titled “Sacred Trust,” focuses on benefits for veterans.

“The sacrifices that our troops have made have been incredible. It’s because of what they’ve done that we’ve been able to go after al Qaeda and kill Bin Laden,” Obama tells the camera. “When they come home we have a sacred trust to make sure that we are doing everything we can to heal all of their wounds.”

A second ad, “Personal,” targets senior citizens, emphasizing the president’s commitment to preserving Medicare.

“To you and your loved ones, Medicare is personal. And to a president raised by his grandparents, it’s personal too,” the narrator says over shots of a young President Obama with his grandparents. “President Obama is leading the most successful crackdown on health-care fraud ever.”

The ads are running in Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia as part of the campaign’s $25 million May ad buy.

At the beginning of the month, The Fix wrote that Obama shouldn't run any more positive ads from here on out, following George W. Bush’s 2004 model. But clearly the president’s campaign is worried about running an entirely negative campaign.