Campaign Videos (May 2012)

The Obama campaign posted more than 40 videos during the month.  Many focus on engaging and involving supporters at the grassroots level.  The campaign posted a lot of clips (7) from Obama's first official campaign rally in Columbus, OH, but curiously none from the second rally in Richmond, VA.  The Obama campaign also made various jabs at Romney, most notably a couple of  "Romney Economics" videos presenting very unflattering views of Romney's time at Bain and "Broken Promises: Romney's Massachusetts Record" to close the month.  These videos seem like something that would normally be done in the heat of the fall campaign.  The Obama campaign is seeking to define Romney.  One thing to watch is whether the campaign will be able to sustain and build on these arguments, or whether it may have "jumped the gun."

The Romney campaign was less prolific, posting 14 videos.  "Obama isn't working" continued to be a significant theme.  The campaign started the month in videos with some fairly formulaic attacks highlighting negative statistics on Obama's economic record.  In the latter part of the month, the campaign issued several videos which put faces on the statistics--"A Few of the 23 Million" (May 15) and "Stories from the Obama Economy" (May 23) as well as "A Few More of the 23 Million" (May 17).  "#Mother'sDay" and "Soul Mate" focused on Ann Romney.

There were a couple of instances of dueling videos.  Both campaigns produced Mother's Day videos.  There was also, on May 14, an exchange of videos on Romney's work at Bain Capital; the Obama campaign weighed in with the first of its Romney Economics videos, the six-minute "Romney Economics: Bankruptcy and Bailouts at GST Steel," and the Romney campaign replied with "American Dream." 

Neither campaign is really putting out videos on their policies going forward.  But while the Obama campaign is pointing to accomplishments such as the Lilly Ledbetter Act or the Affordable Care Act, on Romney side the message thus far is pretty one-dimensional: "Obama isn't working."  One would hope, since Romney is the challenger, that his campaign would start to put out some videos with ideas, policies, what he's for.  The campaign's first two ads, which had a "Day One" theme, did that to some extent, but that has not extended over to web videos. 

  With assistance from Mike Dec, 4president.org.

THE DEMOCRAT
Obama for America    ...all
"First Lady Michelle Obama Answers Your Twitter Questions" (May 31, 2012 - 6:27 web video) +
"Broken Promises: Romney's Massachusetts Record" (May 31, 2012 - 4:18 web video) +
"Two Republican Nominees" (May 29, 2012 -1:36 web video) +
"Honoring Justice Sonia Sotomayor" (May 26, 2012 - 3:04 video) +
[speech] "Des Moines, Iowa: A grassroots event with President Obama - full speech" (May 25, 2012 - 41:19) +
"Jeremy Bird introduces Dashboard on BarackObama.com" (May 23, 2012 - 1:52 web video) +
"Letters to the President: Tanisha's Story" (May 23, 2012 - 1:54 web video) +
"President Obama and the Fight for LGBT Rights" (May 23, 2012 - 5:09 web video) +
"President Obama on Creating an Economy Built to Last" (May 21, 2012 - 4:51 web video) +
"Romney Economics: Job Loss and Bankruptcy at Ampad" (May 21, 2012 - 5:46 web video) +  ...and Spanish subtitles +
"Mitt Romney: 'I stand by what I said, whatever it was." (May 18, 2012 - 1:00 web video) +
"VotemosTodos" (May 18, 2012 -1:23 web video) +
"President Obama at the 2012 Women's Leadership Forum" (May 18, 2012 - 4:10 web video) +
"National Day of Action" (May 18, 2012 - 2:08 web video) +
"Dennis Serafin from New Mexico shares why he supports President Obama" (May 18, 2012 - 1:13 web video) +
"Dorothy Cooper and the new Tennessee voter law - visit GottaVote.org for your state's information" (May 17, 2012 - 3:54 web video) +
"Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, supports President Obama" (May 17, 2012 - 2:06 web video) +
"The President and First Lady Announce the 2012 Launch of Veterans and Military Families for Obama" (May 17, 2012 - 2:14 web video) +
"Stephanie Cutter: Get the facts on Karl Rove's BS" (May 17, 2012 - 3:06 web video) +
"Letters to the President: The Dreams of Our Daughters" (May 16, 2012 - 2:16 web video) +
"Jim Messina: April Fundraising & Paths to 270 Update" (May 16, 2012 - 4:44 web video) +
"Keeping His Word: Women's Health" (May 15, 2012 - 0:39 web video) +
"Katherine Archuleta - 'Why I'm Here'" (May 15, 2012 - 1:50 web video) +
"Romney Economics: Bankruptcy and Bailouts at GST Steel" (May 14, 2012 - 6:07 web video) +  ...and Spanish subtitles +
"Happy Mother's Day" (May 13, 2012 - 2:35 web video) +
"Rocsi Diaz: Join Latinos for Obama" (May 11, 2012 - 0:30 web video) +
"Nurses for Obama" (May 10, 2012 - 2:43 web video) +
"Mitt Romney: Backwards on Equality" (May 10, 2012 - 1:41 web video) +
[speech excerpt] "President Obama at the first 2012 rally in Columbus, Ohio: National Security and Values" (May 9, 2012 - 0:28 web video) +
[speech excerpt] "America only prospers when we meet our obligations to one another" (May 8, 2012 - 1:57 web video) +
[speech excerpt] "President Obama at the first 2012 rally: '...it's still about hope. It's still about change.'" (May 8, 2012 - 3:33 web video) +
[speech excerpt] "This country will care for our veterans and serve our veterans as well as they've served us." (May 8, 2012 - 2:22 web video) +
[speech excerpt] "We've been through too much to turn back now" (May 8, 2012 - 2:30 web video) [speech excerpt] +
[speech excerpt] "President Obama at the first 2012 rally: 'We're moving this country forward.'" (May 8, 2012 - 2:01 web video) +
[speech excerpt] "We did these things together because they made us all richer" (May 8, 2012 - 1:13 web video) +
"Mitt Romney Versus Reality: Auto Recovery Edition" (May 8, 2012 - 0:54 web video) +
[speech] "First Lady Michelle Obama's remarks at the Ready to Go Rally" (May 8, 2012 - 13:03 web video)  +
"Canvassing in Ohio: A Typical Day for a Canvasser" (May 8, 2012 - 2:29 web video) +
"How to Sign Up to Host a Local Event on BarackObama.com" (May 7, 2012 - 2:39 web video) +
"How to RSVP for Events on BarackObama.com" (May 7, 2012 - 2:27 web video) +
"Interactive calendar: Stay in the loop on events near you" (May 7, 2012 - 0:48 web video) +
[speech-plus] "President Barack Obama's Remarks at the Ready to Go Rally in Columbus, Ohio" (May 5, 2012 - 39:05 web video) +
"Stephanie Cutter: Get the facts on Mitt Romney, Big Oil, and the Koch Brothers" (May 2, 2012 - 1:51 web video) +
"Newt Gingrich: Frankly, not Mitt Romney's biggest supporter." (May 2, 2012 - 1:27 web video) +
"Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders for Obama" (May 1, 2012 - 2:43 web video) +
also: infographic/slide show "Life of Julia" (May 3, 2012) +


THE REPUBLICANS
Romney for President    ...all
"Soul Mate" (May 30, 2012 - 1:35 web video) +
"The Promise of America" (May 30, 2012 - 2:30 web video) +
"Not Even Half" (May 29, 2012 - 1:19 web video) +
"Thank You" (May 28, 2012 - 0:49 web video) +
"Stories from the Obama Economy" (May 23, 2012 - 1:06 web video) +
"Big Bain Backfire" (May 21, 2012 - 0:55 web video) +
"Remarks by Mitt Romney on Cuban Independence Day" (May 21, 2012 - 3:42 web video) +
"A Few More Of The 23 Million" (May 17, 2012 - 1:41 web video) +
"A Few of the 23 Million" (May 15, 2012 - 3:59 web video) +
"American Dream" (May 14, 2012 - 1:00 web video) +
"#Mother'sDay" (May 13, 2012 - 3:57 web video) +
"Silence" (May 6, 2012 - 1:00 web video) +
"Broken Promises: Energy" (May 3, 2012 - 1:02 web video) +
"Broken Promises: Jobs and the Economy" (May 2, 2012 - 1:02 web video) +


Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee, Inc.
--

Newt 2012
"Thank You To All Of Our Supporters" (May 1, 2012 - 1:46 web video) +



MORE
Gary Johnson 2012
"Gary Johnson LIVE FREE of the FED" (May 30, 2012 - 2:35 web video) +
"Gary Johnson Peace is cheaper" (May 21, 2012 - 2:02 web video) +
"Gary Johnson This Is Your Freedom" (May 15, 2012 - 1:48 web video) +
"You ARE Libertarian2" (May 10, 2012 - 1:44 web video) +
Libertarian Party
"2012 Libertarian Presidential Promo" (May 11, 2012 - 0:45 web video) +