Fact Check: Obama Ad Continues Attack on Romney-Bain Connection - 8 News NOW

Claim: A new ad endorsed by President Barack Obama that is airing on KLAS-TV Channel 8 attacks Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney by stating: "Newly published documents show Mitt Romney's firms were pioneers at helping companies outsource their manufacturing to countries including China. Bragging they were a one-stop shop for their outsource requirements. Mitt Romney's not the solution. He's the problem."

Verdict: Misleading but not as much as a similar ad Obama's campaign has run locally that is based on the same Washington Post story. The newspaper last month reported that Bain Capital, the private equity firm Romney founded, invested in companies that specialized in relocating American jobs to call centers and factories making computer components in low-wage countries such as China and India. Someone watching the ad could get the impression that Bain pioneered the practice of shipping American jobs overseas even though the newspaper reported that Bain's "foray into outsourcing began in 1993." That was long after American companies began employing workers overseas. Jean maker Levi Strauss & Co., for one, began hiring Europeans in the 1960s to manage company operations on that continent. The reason this ad is harder for Romney to argue is that it opens with him criticizing China for "taking our jobs and taking a lot of our future. And I am not willing to let that happen." That being the case, Romney is left to defend against the newspaper's assertion that a Bain-funded company, Modus Media, operated facilities in China.