They knew it was coming, the eventual Romney ad featuring former Obama supporters who just can't pull the voting booth lever for the Democrat again.
But a new two minute, 25 second video the Republican National Committee and Team Romney are rolling out at Tuesday's convention feels unusually brutal in that the three featured speakers, a middle-aged white women and two middle-aged white men, reveal a sense of disappointment in Obama, their candidate in the 2008 elections.
The woman tells of canvassing for Obama, even donating money. But the economy has forced her to dump workers. The first man says "I had high hopes" in the hope and change message, but "it didn't turn out that way." And the second man adds that Obama has moved on issues he promised not to and that is "unforgivable." His frustrated conclusion: "Just do something."
They then talk about Romney, and highlight his successes in business, at the Salt Lake City Olympics and in liberal Massachusetts where he was a rare Republican governor seeking common ground.
Maybe the toughest element of the new video: The featured "Democrats" are holding Obama signs that, at the end, they turn over to reveal a Romney poster.