Tryptophan Haze Gets the Better of DNC, Romney Team

The strategists apparently were not working overtime during the Thanksgiving holiday.

On Monday, Democrats released a movie trailer-style ad attempting to undermine Republican Mitt Romney, called "Mitt v. Mitt." It was released one day after the Romney campaign blasted out a press statement called "Obama v. Obama."

D'oh. The creativity genes appear to have been doused in turkey gravy.

The Democratic National Committee ad attempts to use humor to undermine Romney by portraying his candidacy as a "the story of two men trapped in one body." The narrative behind it is that Romney is inconsistent on a number of issues important to conservative voters who will determine President Obama's challenger next year.

The DNC ad offers contradictory clips of Romney on issues such as health care and abortion rights.

"From the creator of 'I'm running for office, for Pete's sake,' comes the story of two men trapped in one body," the ad says, referring to a comment Romney made at a Republican presidential candidate debate about a lawn service he used that hired illegal immigrants.

The DNC is airing the 30-second television ad in select cities around the nation. It directs viewers to a website, www.mittvmitt.com, with a longer version. It's not dissimilar from a DNC ad that ran in Arizona last month hitting Romney on comments he made to a Las Vegas newspaper, saying the housing crisis needed to run its course and hit bottom.

For his part, the Romney campaign aired an ad in New Hampshire last week challenging the president on the economy. On Sunday, the campaign offered a low-tech release in which spokeswoman Andrea Saul says Obama "concedes he hasn't delivered on his campaign promises -- however he is still asking Americans to reward his failures with a second term. It is clear that this election is going to be about Candidate Obama running against President Obama."

In the release, it quotes Obama saying that he may deserve only one term in the White House if the change he vowed isn't delivered. It also quotes Obama saying shovel-ready stimulus "was not as shovel-ready as we expected," that he hasn't changed Washington the way he vowed and acknowledging that Americans aren't better off than they were four years ago.

On Monday, Saul responded to the DNC ad, saying, Obama "has wreaked more havoc on the middle class than any president in modern history," and the "last thing the White House wants is to have to run against Mitt Romney."

Romney is currently the frontrunner in the GOP race to challenge the president though former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has seen a spike recently, enhanced by a powerful endorsement from the Manchester Union Leader on Sunday.