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SALT LAKE CITY — In the days since a Boston Globe article alleged that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney lied about when he retired from Bain Capital, both the Romney and Obama campaigns have taken a "no holds barred" approach to their responses.
The Boston Globe revealed Thursday that despite claiming to have retired from Bain in 1999, Romney was listed as the "sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president" of the company after that date.
Romney had previously made the claim on SEC filings, leading Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter to note that lying on SEC filings is a felony.
"Either Mitt Romney, through his own words and his own signature, was misrepresenting his position at Bain to the SEC, which is a felony, or he was misrepresenting his position at Bain to the American people to avoid responsibility for some of the consequences of his investments," she said.
Karl Rove said on Sunday that the Obama was going too far with the claim.
"This is gutter politics of the worst Chicago sort," he said on Fox News Sunday.
New document lends support to Obama campaign claims
To further complicate things for Romney, a corporate document filed with the state of Massachusetts in December 2002 surfaced on Sunday, listing Romney as a managing member of Bain who was authorized to " execute, acknowledge, deliver and record any recordable instrument purporting to affect an interest in real property, whether to be recorded with a Registry of Deeds or with a District Office of the Land Court."
Romney adviser Ed Gillespie on Sunday explained the discrepancy, saying the candidate had left his name listed with the company while he worked on the Salt Lake City Olympics, but removed his name once he realized he would not be returning to the company.
"He actually retired retroactively at that point," Romney adviser Ed Gillespie said Sunday. "He ended up not going back to the firm after his time in Salt Lake City. So he was actually retired from Bain."
Campaigns release new ads
Both campaigns have released attack ads in response to the Bain inquiries.
Pres. Obama released on Saturday an ad attacking Romney's record at Bain. The ad, set to Romney's Jan. 30 performance at a Florida event of "America the Beautiful," displays images of abandoned factories and text from newspapers alleging the offshoring of jobs.
"In business, Mitt Romney's firms shipped jobs to Mexico. And China," read one Los Angeles Times clip.
"Mitt Romney's not the solution," the ad closes. "He's the problem."
The Romney campaign responded with two ads of its own, giving the Obama campaign a taste of its own medicine. The Romney camp released a web video Sunday mocking Obama's short performance of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together."
The clip of Obama singing "I'm so in love with you" plays over headlines about Obama rewarding donors and lobbyists.
Romney adviser: Bain attacks having an effect
Romney adviser Ed Gillespie said Sunday that Obama's attacks on Romney's Bain record have shifted the public's focus away from the economy.
"They want to talk about anything other President Obama's dismal record on the economy, and it's working," Gillespie said on CNN's State of the Nation.
Gillespie repeated traditional Romney campaign attacks on Obama, focusing on the state of the economy and saying the president's policies are designed to reward campaign contributors at the cost of the middle class.
The Romney advisor also defended Romney's work on the Salt Lake City Olympics, saying Obama had misrepresented Romney in the Bain attacks.
"He left a life he loved to save the Olympics for the country he loved more," Gillespie said.
