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GOP ad asks women: 'Is Obama the boyfriend you need to dump?'

Republicans and a conservative women's group are making President Obama into the boyfriend who hasn't delivered on his promises and needs to go – just in time for Obama's big speech Thursday night in Charlotte.

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Jae C. Hong/AP
Michigan delegates react as President Barack Obama is nominated for the Office of the President of the United States at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012.

| Charlotte, N.C.

“Listen, this just isn’t working,” an attractive young woman tells a mostly-off-camera figure. “It’s been four years. You’ve changed. Your spending is out of control. You’re constantly on the golf course, and you’re constantly out with Hollywood celebrities.”

“It’s not me, it’s you,” she says, as the camera pans out to reveal a cardboard cutout of President Obama.

On the day Mr. Obama delivers his big Democratic National Convention speech, not one but two attacks are being leveled at the president that make him into the boyfriend who’s pushed things too far and needs to go.

One, an ad called “The Breakup,” which debuted Thursday morning on NBC’s “Today Show,” comes courtesy of the Republican National Committee (RNC). Another, a web video called “Boyfriend,” which depicts two women on a couch, was produced by the conservative group Independent Women’s Voice (IWV).

 “I was so excited at first,” the younger woman confides, coffee mug in hand. “He seemed so perfect.”

“They always do,” the older woman responds, reassuringly.

In other words, time to break up.

RECOMMENDED: Are you more (or less) liberal than President Obama? Take our quiz!

The two pitches are clearly aimed at women voters, who have long favored Obama – but less so recently.  The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll shows Obama sinking in overall favorability, a decline that has occurred entirely among women voters. Obama has gone from 57-39 percent favorable-unfavorable among women in April to 46-50 now.

The RNC ad ends with a call for stories on “why you’re breaking up with Obama,” to be posted on BreakUpWithObama.com.  IWV says its web video will be part of a larger online campaign, coming soon.

The messages refine for women a longstanding effort to woo voters away from Obama, first by acknowledging that his “hope and change” campaign last time was compelling – and that, let’s face it, Obama was younger and cuter than the other guy.

But now, the reasoning goes, it’s time to go for the less flashy alternative. The charismatically challenged Mitt Romney doesn’t lend himself to a pitch based on sex appeal, but maybe that’s a good thing, Republicans say.

After four years of dating, the woman in the RNC ad tells cardboard Obama, “I think we should just be friends.” Then she slams her napkin on the table, and storms off.

RECOMMENDED: Are you more (or less) liberal than President Obama? Take our quiz!

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