The Obama campaign has released its latest attack on Romney's gubernatorial record, a new ad titled "We've Heard it Before." The ad slams Romney's economic record as governor, claiming Massachussetts lost 40,000 manufacturing jobs and fell to 47th in job creation under his watch.

The ad will run in 9 battleground states and cost a "significant" amount of money, according to a spokesman for the Obama campaign. David Axelrod, an senior Obama campaign advisor, defended the negative tone of the ad on "Face The Nation" on Sunday.

"What we’re arguing is whether he’s qualified to call himself a job creator," Axelrod said. "When you hold yourself out as an economical oracle and you say to people, ‘Trust me, I know how to move the country forward,’ and your record says something else, of course, you’re going to get challenged for that.”

Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for the Romney campaign, said the ad is an attempt to distract attention away from the current economic crisis. 

“We’re happy to compare the 4.7 percent unemployment rate Mitt Romney achieved in Massachusetts to President Obama’s weak record any day,” Saul said. 

Spending on television ads by both campaigns and outside parties on this presidential election has topped $87 million five months before the election.

Read the full story at the New York Times.

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