Obama hypes clean energy in Iowa, Colorado radio ads

Voters in Colorado will hear much of the same message. The ad there said Ryan has voted to raise taxes on solar and wind firms. It also contrasted Romney and Obama’s views on clean energy.

The ads show that the Obama campaign believes it can turn Romney’s clean-energy policies into a political liability in certain states. The wind energy industry employs 7,000 people in Iowa, and also has a strong presence in Colorado.

The White House has been vocal about its support of the wind production tax credit (PTC), which pays wind power producers 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour. The PTC is set to end Dec. 31, and Obama has repeatedly called on Congress to extend it.

The administration also has pushed a recent Energy Department report that backed up wind industry claims that ending the PTC would cost 37,000 direct and indirect jobs, while extending it would preserve 75,000 jobs.

In July, Romney said the PTC should end as scheduled. His team called the credit unwarranted government intervention in the marketplace, a view that Ryan shares. 

That opinion has played into Republican talking points about Obama’s energy vision: that the president has slowed economic recovery and squandered taxpayer money by pushing for green energy instead of traditional energy sources.