Obama Hits Romney Over Jeep Outsourcing Claim

Romney has pressed that claim in a series of radio advertisements, seeking to damage President Obama's standing in auto industry-reliant Michigan and Ohio. Despite facing pushback on an ad claiming that Jeep had sent jobs to China, Romney doubled down with another advertisement intoning, "Barack Obama says he saved the auto industry. But for who? Ohio or China?"

Industry officials have since distanced themselves from the claim. A spokesman from General Motors called the attack "campaign politics at its cynical worst" and said it suggested having "entered some parallel universe."

Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne also sought to refute Romney's claim with an op-ed published in the Detroit News, undercutting Romney's attempt to portray himself as the candidate of the auto industry.

"I feel obliged to unambiguously restate our position: Jeep production will not be moved from the United States to China," Marchionne wrote.

Now the Obama campaign is using that auto industry fact-check to discredit Romney, releasing an advertisement entitled "Cynical" that quotes from critics of Romney's claim. The spot ends with a clip of Romney referring to a now-infamous op-ed he wrote entitled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."