TACTICS

Dems Rip Romney on Layoffs

Trot out man laid off by his old firm.

Meet Randy Johnson, the star of Sunday's press conference by the Democratic National Committee. Johnson worked an American Pad and Paper (AMPAD) plant in Indiana before being laid off when the company was bought by Bain Capital, and he's the new weapon in the Democrats' strategy to attack Romney's record as the head of Bain. "I just felt like he didn't care about the workers," Johnson said Sunday. Bain "let Ampad go bankrupt and they made $100 million…tell me there’s nothing wrong with that.” The late Sen. Ted Kennedy successfully used a similar line of attack when Romney challenged his Senate seat in 1994. The Obama camp is setting up a “War Room” in Des Moines hotel to serve as the Democratic Party’s central communications hub during the Iowa caucus.