BARACK TO THE FUTURE: At least Bill Clinton ran as a new Democrat, says Romney adviser:

While the Obama campaign pushes out its new slogan urging voters to look “forward,” Mitt Romney’s team is feeling reminiscent.

In a press briefing before Romney’s speech in Lansing, MI Tuesday, a senior adviser sought to contrast Obama’s campaign message with that of a Democratic presidential candidate of the past: Bill Clinton.

“The reality is that when Bill Clinton ran in ’92, he ran as a new Democrat,” said the aide, citing ticket’s campaign pledge to reform welfare. “That was the famous ad that they ran: Clinton and Gore were going to be different kinds of Democrats.”

He continued: “President Obama has really turned his back on all of that. He hasn’t run as a new Democrat, he’s run as an old Democrat… more spending, more taxation, more regulation.”

In casting Obama as an “old-style Democrat,” the Romney campaign is apparently seeking to undermine the president’s campaign slogan and the message it represents — one of progressive, forward-thinking solutions.

Team Romney’s retort: Look at the past four years.

No wonder Obama digs Mad Men (besides his past love of trying on various personalities, a recurring theme of Mad Men): that show’s era represents the high-water mark for “Progressivism,” just before the lights went out.