Can Deval Patrick convince voters his work at Bain Capital was a force for good?

Patrick, the newest entrant to the 2020 race, is facing questions over his ties to the investment firm. What did he actually do there?

As Mitt Romney was solidifying his spot as the front-runner in the 2012 Republican primary, Barack Obama came out with a devastating campaign ad. Romney, an accomplished businessman who cofounded private equity firm Bain Capital in 1984, was running on his ability to resuscitate a struggling economy. But Obama’s team, seizing on the populist mood of the time, flipped the script. In a two-minute ad that ran in multiple states, the Obama campaign described in excruciating detail how Bain Capital would buy a business, saddle it with debt, and then sell it for parts. “They came in and sucked the life out of us,” said a former steel mill worker whose factory went bankrupt shortly after it was acquired by the firm. Another called Romney a “job destroyer.”

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