Unable to run on his record, the president has of late turned sharply negative, blanketing the nation — and especially the swing states — with a barrage of what his campaign calls “contrast ads.” In all, the floundering incumbent has laid out some $100 million in what are plain old “attack” ads, dwarfing Mr. Romney’s ad spending.

One ad showed the presumptive Republican nominee singing “America the Beautiful” — off-key, of course. Overlaid on the screen are claims that Mr. Romney’s companies outsourced jobs to Mexico, India and China, and that he has had investments in Bermuda, Switzerland and the Cayman Islands.

In June alone, the Obama campaign burned through $58 million — $70.8 million when combined with the Democratic National Committee. Meanwhile, for the second month in a row, the Romney machine outraised Mr. Obama and his partners $105 million to $70 million.

What much of the mainstream media missed — deliberately — was the effect of Mr. Obama’s negative onslaught. But the results were all there, albeit buried, in a New York Times/CBS News poll on Thursday, which found that Mr. Romney has taken the lead, 45 percent to 43 percent. In paragraph seven, the NYT states: “It is the first time Mr. Romney has shown a numeric edge in the Times/CBS poll since he emerged from the primaries as the presumptive nominee.” Well, that’s something that liberal talking head missed.

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