The Romney campaign issues a formal reminder:
Naturally, Tom Brokaw and NBC are "extremely uncomfortable" with the ad. Jennifer Rubin gloats, "The Romney campaign should send Brokaw and the legal attacks dogs at NBC roses for assisting their effort." Allahpundit appreciates the savvy at play:
Wouldn’t surprise me if Team Mitt used the Brokaw footage in the full expectation that NBC would raise a stink. They used the same strategy a few months ago, I suspect, in that ad taking Obama out of context on the economy. They knew the left would flip out and, in so doing, increase the ad’s exposure; it’s "earned media" in the most cynically earned way. This ad is doubly clever insofar as it uses an, ahem, impartial newsman to lay out the "facts" of Gingrich’s ethics reprimand in the House. That’s an effective counter to Newt’s complaints that Romney is distorting what happened in that ethics saga — after all, we’ve got fair-and-balanced Tom Brokaw reporting on it right here — but of course, there is some distortion happening: As Byron York explained in a post a few days ago, Gingrich was ultimately exonerated of any illegality after an investigation by Bill Clinton’s IRS.
Hence the Gingrich campaign's rebuttal ("a history lesson for Mitt Romney and the Washington establishment"):
The Romney camp doubles down:
Newt retaliates with a new website, TalesofMitt.com. Here the campaign quotes Romney, who said in 1994 that "a blind trust is an age-old ruse":
And another ad on Romney's "short clarification" last Thursday night that he had "never voted for a Democrat when there was a Republican on the ballot":
Meanwhile, the Gingrich campaign chases the Cuban vote by implying, in Ed Morrissey's words, that "America’s looking a little Castroish these days":
Romney's final pitch to Floridians is below:
Lastly, pro-Paul PAC Endorse Liberty is running this short film in Florida:
Previous Ad War Updates here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
The Dish 