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Romney for President

"American Dream" +
  1:00 web video from May 14, 2012.

Male Announcer: Steel Dynamics started with an empty field and a big dream.

Worker: The beginning of Steel Dynamics is the perfect entrepreneurial story.

Worker: This area was, you know, it was just farmland when SDI first come here.

Worker: It’s just incredible from when I started. We had close to 1,400 employees, now we’re over 6,000.

Worker: I think there’s a lot of pride in what we’ve built out here.”

Male Announcer: But SDI almost never got started. When others shied away, Mitt Romney’s private sector leadership team stepped in.”

Worker: Building a dream with over 6,000 employees today.

Worker: If it wasn’t for a company like Steel Dynamics, this county wouldn’t have a lot.

Male Announcer: American workers in a small town—proving that anything is possible in America.

Worker: One of the hardest things to do is move up a socioeconomic status in a generation. I said because of this company, I’m able to do that with my family.

Mitt Romney: I'm Mitt Romney and I approve this message.


Notes: The Romney campaign released this video following the Obama campaign's release of the six-minute long "Romney Economics: Bankruptcy and Bailouts at GST Steel."

The campaign's description of the video states, "The investment that Mitt Romney and others made in Steel Dynamics helped to grow the company and create jobs. For the workers of Steel Dynamics, this is a perfect example of the American dream."

American Bridge sent out a response pointing out that the Steel Dynamics plant "was heavily financed by government subsidies, and tax breaks.  The email references a Jan. 12, 2012 Los Angeles Times article by Matea Gold, Melanie Mason and Tom Hamburger "Mitt Romney no stranger to tax breaks, subsidies."

Interestingly the name Bain Capital is not mentioned; instead it's "Mitt Romney’s private sector leadership team." The video would be more effective if it included a clip of Romney talking about his role and the decision-making involved in the Steel Dynamics project.  Instead Romney has a kind of a Wizard of Oz like presence.