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Winning Our Future PAC

"King of Bain: When Mitt Romney Came to Town" +
28-minute video produced by Barry Bennett and directed by Jason Killian Meath.
:30 trailer from Jan. 12, 2012.

[Music] Male Announcer: A group of corporate raiders led by Mitt Romney.  The company was Bain Capital, more ruthless than Wall Street.

Man: ...pulled the rug out from under our plant.

Woman: Everybody was fired.

Woman 2 (audio): They fire people, they cut benefits, they sell assets.

Man: Mitt Romney and them guys, they don't care who I am.

Woman: I feel that is the man that destroyed us.

        TEXT: Watch the Movie at www.KingofBain.com

Male Announcer: Winning our Future is responsible for the content of this message.

"King of Bain" +
1:00 trailer from Jan. 12, 2012.

[Music] Male Announcer: Capitalism made America great.  Free markets, innovation, hard work: the building blocks of the American Dream.  But in the wrong hands, some of those dreams can turn into nightmares.

Female Voice (News Announcer?): ...private equity leaders getting rich at the expense of American workers.

Male Announcer: Mitt Romney became CEO of Bain Capital the day the company was formed.

Female Voice: They fire people, they cut benefits, they sell assets.

Man: Mitt Romney and them guys, they don't care who I am.

Woman: Let's look deeper in his life.  What did he do when he was the CEO of this holding company.

Male Announcer: A group of corporate raiders led by Mitt Romney, more ruthless than Wall Street. 

For tens of thousands of Americans the suffering began when Mitt Romney came to town.

Woman: I feel that is the man that destroyed us.

    TEXT: Watch the Movie at www.KingofBain.com

Male Announcer: Winning our Future is responsible for the content of this message.


Notes: According to news reports, Bennett tried to interest pro-Perry and pro-Huntsman super PACs in the video before it was picked up by Winning Our Future.  The video was discussed in the Jan. 7 debate in New Hampshire, but its impact was not really felt until the South Carolina primary campaign where it significantly shaped the discussion. On Jan. 13, 2012 The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler ("The Fact Checker") rated the video four pinocchios and described it as a "highly misleading portrayal of Romney’s years at Bain Capital."  Gregg Phillips, managing director of Winning Our Future, rejected the criticism in an open letter to Mitt Romney, but in a statement Gingrich said that, “I am calling for the Winning Our Future Super-PAC supporting me to either edit its 'King of Bain' advertisement and movie to remove its inaccuracies, or to pull it off the air and off the internet entirely."


excerpt from Jan. 7 debate
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me bring Speaker Gingrich in on this discussion, because, Mr. Speaker, a group supporting you run -- one run by one of your closest long-time advisers just put out a very scathing attack, just today, on Governor Romney, on his tenure as the CEO of that investment firm, Bain Capital.

It calls that tenure "a story of greed," that's a quote, saying that Bain made spectacular profits by, again, quote, "stripping American businesses of assets, selling everything to the highest bidder and often killing jobs for big financial rewards."

Do you agree with that characterization?

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I -- I haven't seen the film, but it does reflect "The New York Times" story two days ago about one particular company. And I think people should look at the film and decide. If it's factually accurate, it raises questions.

I'm very much for free enterprise. I'm very much for exactly what the Governor just described, create a business, grow jobs, provide leadership.

I'm not nearly as enamored of a Wall Street model where you can flip companies, you can go in and have leveraged buyouts, you can basically take out all the money, leaving behind the workers. And I think most...

STEPHANOPOULOS: Is that the Bain model?

GINGRICH: Well, I -- I think you have to look at the film. You have to look at "The New York Times" coverage of one particular company. And you have to ask yourself some questions.

The Governor has every right to defend that. And I think -- but I think it's a legitimate part of the debate to say, OK, on balance, were people better off or were people worse off by this particular style of investment?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Back in December, you said that Governor Romney made money at Bain by, quote, "bankrupting companies and laying off employees."

GINGRICH: That was, I think, "The New York Times" story two days ago. They took one specific company. They walked through in detail. They showed what they bought it for, how much they took out of it and the 1,700 people they left unemployed. Now that's -- check "The New York Times" story, but that's their story.