Opening Night Highs & Faith Attack Low

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MESSAGING HIGHLIGHTS

When you've worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity…you do not slam it shut behind you…you reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed.

How hard you work matters more than how much you make…helping others means more than just getting ahead yourself.

That fundamental American promise that, even if you don't start out with much, if you work hard and do what you're supposed to do, then you should be able to build a decent life for yourself and an even better life for your kids and grandkids.

--First Lady Michelle Obama

In times like these we should turn to each other, not on each other.

We are on a better track because we placed our faith not in trickle-down fantasies and divisive rhetoric but in our values and common sense.

We believe in an economy that grows opportunity out to the middle class and the marginalized, not just up to the well connected.

This is the president who saved the American auto industry from extinction, the American financial industry from self-destruction, and the American economy from depression.

--Gov. Deval Patrick

...to create jobs, a modern economy requires modern investments...Building an economy to last, from the middle class up, not from the billionaires down.

How much less, do you really think, would be good for our country? How much less education would be good for our children? How many hungry American kids can we no longer afford to feed? ...How many fewer college degrees would make us more competitive as a nation?

Swiss bank accounts never built an American bridge. Swiss bank accounts don't put cops on the beat or teachers in our classrooms. Swiss bank accounts never created American jobs!

--Gov. Martin O'Malley

It’s a choice between a country where the middle class pays more so that millionaires can pay less -- or a country where everybody pays their fair share...

The American dream is not a sprint, or even a marathon, but a relay....each generation passes on to the next the fruits of their labor.

Invest in opportunity today for prosperity tomorrow.

--Mayor Julian Castro

The auto industry is standing today. The middle class is standing today. Ohio is standing today. America is standing strong today. That's what happens when you have a president who stands up for average working people.

There is a true choice in this election. Barack Obama is betting on the American worker. Mitt Romney is betting on a Bermuda shell corporation. Barack Obama saved the American auto industry. Mitt Romney saved on his taxes. Barack Obama is an economic patriot. Mitt Romney is an outsourcing pioneer.

--Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland

ATTACKS AND RESPONSES

ATTACK: "Democrats removed all mentions of "God" from their platform."
RESPONSE:

• The Democratic platform mentions faith or religion more than 20 times, but when we're measuring faith by word counts we have lost our way. Faithfulness is not shown by saying God's name. In fact, Jesus says so directly in his Sermon on the Mount.
• If they actually read the platform, they’d see that it has an expanded and powerful faith section -- and more importantly, that the platform itself is based on a love of our neighbors and caring for the "least of these."
• Leave it to right-wing pundits to attack a passage on the middle class, fairness, and opportunity. We should be coming together as Americans, not letting political pundits use religion to drive a wedge between us.

ATTACK: "Democrats are hypocrites for requiring ID to attend their convention but opposing ID requirements for voting."
RESPONSE:

• Keeping potential security threats from attending a party convention doesn't undermine our democracy and our fundamental right to vote.
• What does undermine our democracy? Politicians manipulating our elections for their personal gain and deliberately targeting certain voters to make it hard for them to cast a ballot.
• In the world's leading democracy, it should be voters choosing our leaders, not politicians choosing voters. Our voting system must be free, fair, and equally accessible to everyone.
• Voting is a fundamental freedom guaranteed by more Constitutional amendments than any other right we have. Getting on an airplane or buying cold medicine aren't enshrined in our Constitution -- and attending a party convention isn't either.

ATTACK: "Obama can't say the American people are better off than four years ago."
RESPONSE:

• Are we better off than when our economy was in free fall four years ago? Are we better off with bin Laden dead and General Motors alive? And did even Mitt Romney say of course the economy is getting better? Yes.
• But is the progress we've made so far good enough? No way. Americans are still struggling and we have to do more.
• Here are the questions we should ask: do we want to move forward or go back to the same Bush policies that brought down families and our country? What kind of a country and future do we want to build together?

ATTACK: "How dare anyone say I didn't build my own business."
RESPONSE:

• If you're a business owner, well done! The business you run is a testament to your hard work and the sacrifices you've made -- and to our great country.
• That's because in America, no one succeeds on their own. Even Mitt Romney agrees with the President that "a lot of people help you in a business" -- the "people who provide roads, the fire, the police."
• And when the rich get special tax breaks they don’t need, we have to cut our home front funding -- our investments in the great American system that makes all of our success possible.
• When you've gone through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you -- you reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed. That's how it's supposed to be in America.

We develop messaging by aggregating, analyzing and distilling polling, tested messaging, and expert recommendations, and monitoring the media to identify what is and isn't working. See here for some of the experts and organizations we draw on.