This Week in the 47 Percent: Romney Fundraiser Bans Recording and a Rap Ringtone

President Obama chose not to mention Mitt Romney’s 47 percent remarks in the presidential debate last week, but the leaked video appears to be picking up steam regardless. Not only are outside democratic groups reviving the narrative in radio ads, but the Obama campaign is launching another TV ad campaign based on the fundraiser footage in crucial swing states. Here’s our full roundup of this week’s 47 percent news:

MItt romney fundraisers, post-47 percent

Lynn SweetLynn SweetLynn Sweet of The Chicago Sun-Times published this gem of a photo showing that a Sunday Romney fundraiser near Chicago banned audio and video recordings. Wonder why?

New Obama 47 Percent Ad

The Obama campaign released this advertisement, titled “Earned,” on Tuesday and plans to air in Florida, Ohio, and Virginia. It features Romney’s remarks with a reminder to voters that he could take away benefits like Medicare. As you may recall, this isn’t the first time the Obama campaign has used the 47 percent message in a campaign ad.

democracy corps breaks it down

Democracy CorpsDemocracy CorpsDemocracy Corps, an independent nonprofit, has joined with the Women Vote Action Fund to crunch numbers on the effect the 47 percent video has had on single women, people of color, and young people: a demographic they call the “Rising American Electorate.” According to their research:

Voters were asked which of a series of attacks raised the most doubts in their mind about Mitt Romney. The strongest—Mitt Romney’s 47 percent quote—raised serious doubts for four in ten voters and the fact that many of the so-called ‘47 percent’ are veterans, seniors, and the children of the working poor raised serious doubts for a third.

Big lou really breaks it down

We don’t know exactly where this 47 percent remix came from (it has different lyrics than the original “We are Fighters” song with Big Lou and Bruno Mars), but it appears to have been posted on YouTube by the real Big Lou. In any case, it’s cool and you can make it your ring tone, so shhh don’t ask questions.

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GREAT JOURNALISM, SLOW FUNDRAISING

Our team has been on fire lately—publishing sweeping, one-of-a-kind investigations, ambitious, groundbreaking projects, and even releasing “the holy shit documentary of the year.” And that’s on top of protecting free and fair elections and standing up to bullies and BS when others in the media don’t.

Yet, we just came up pretty short on our first big fundraising campaign since Mother Jones and the Center for Investigative Reporting joined forces.

So, two things:

1) If you value the journalism we do but haven’t pitched in over the last few months, please consider doing so now—we urgently need a lot of help to make up for lost ground.

2) If you’re not ready to donate but you’re interested enough in our work to be reading this, please consider signing up for our free Mother Jones Daily newsletter to get to know us and our reporting better. Maybe once you do, you’ll see it’s something worth supporting.

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