President Barack Obama told NBC's Matt Lauer during an interview on Super Bowl Sunday just hours before kickoff that he deserves a second term. While defending his record on the economy and overall job improvement (positive US job numbers were released last week), the president told Lauer:
I deserve a second term, but we're not done... We've created the most jobs since 2005... but we're not finished."
Both the Mitt Romney and Obama presidential campaign teams have been having a little fun with the three-old statement from the president that kicked all of this off. Prior to the 2009 Super Bowl, just days after Obama had taken office, he told Lauer in reference to the dire economy and jobs outlook: "If i don't have this done in three years, then it's going to be a one-term proposition."
Last week, the Romney campaign used that statement to create a "one-term" fundraising plea for the Republican candidate, calling for supporters to hold the president to a single term. The very next morning, the Obama reelection campaign had debuted a "two-term fund," asking for $3 donations to keep him in office.
Both teams continue to scour old and new statements and appearances by their competitor to use as fuel in TV advertising, talking points for surrogates, and digital campaign efforts. A couple of pieces have been written about the tactics the campaigns use to create negative ads: this one from New York magazine is pretty comprehensive, and The New York Times' piece from this weekend is good, too.