At a Romney Home, the View From the Curb

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

In a new Web video, one of the nation's most politically active unions â€" the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees â€" takes a slap at Mitt Romney and his “47 percent remarks” by showing a sanitation worker whose route, it says, includes Mr. Romney's oceanfront home in La Jolla, Calif.

The sanitation worker, Richard Hayes, is interviewed and says: “We're kind of like the invisible people. He doesn't realize, you know, the service we provide.”

Mr. Hayes then says he lifts 15 to 16 tons of garbage a day. “When I'm 55, 60 years old, I know my body's going to be breaking down,” he says. “Mitt Romney doesn't care about that.”

The  video then shows  quote from Mr. Romney's 47 percent remarks in big letters: “And so my job is not to worry about these people.”

In recent days, the Romney campaign has shown an ad in which Mr. Romney, repeatedly using the word “compa ssionate,” vows to go to bat for America's middle class, saying he will accomplish more for working Americans â€" will do more to create jobs and reduce unemployment â€" than President Obama has in his nearly four years in office.

Mr. Romney has said that his “47 percent” comments were “inelegant” and that his campaign is “about the 100 percent of America.”

The union's “Meet Richard Hayes” video is one of several that Afscme is running that juxtapose interviews of workers in and around the La Jolla-San Diego area with Mr. Romney's dismissive remarks about the 47 percent.

Lee Saunders, president of the union, has said it will spend close to $100 million in this year's campaign, with most going to Democrats.

In releasing the Web videos, Mr. Saunders said in a statement: “Mitt Romney says his job is not to care about nearly half of America. Whatever your political stripe, no one should be so disregarding, dismissive, and disrespectful of half of the country. So we wanted to put a face on the hard working men and woman who Mitt relies on for public services.”