Chrysler Group and General Motors have prohibited campaign events inside its facilities to avoid being caught up in the political heat brought about by the upcoming presidential election. In an e-mailed statement to Automotive News, a Chrysler spokeswoman said the carmaker will not host campaign events at its plants this fall as it is focused on meeting production demands. The spokeswoman said Chrysler made the decision in the spring. A spokesman for GM, meanwhile, said the carmaker decided early this year to reject requests for campaign appearances at its plants. Although the carmaker has always made it a point to limit political events at its plants, it “took an extra step” this year by declining any request by any political party. The spokesman remarked that GM is a car company, not a political platform.
A lot of attention is on GM and Chrysler as the presidential election nears since their financial bailout years ago became a campaign issue. President Barack Obama's campaign hailed the bailout, initiated under President George W. Bush in 2008, as a success that helped US avoid a deeper economic crisis while saving hundreds of thousands of jobs.
His opponent, Republican candidate Mitt Romney, has remarked that he wouldn't have used public funds to relieve both Chrysler and GM through bankruptcy. He, however, said that he would have lobbied for government guarantees had the carmakers come out from bankruptcy on their own. In 2011 Obama visited both Chrysler's Toledo assembly complex and GM's Orion assembly plant in Detroit.
