What Team Obama thinks will work in manufacturing-heavy Ohio will surely work just as well for the actual seat of the auto industry, the thinking likely goes. Their first ad there is a Michigan-tailored variation on their “Mitt Romney would’ve let the auto industry eat cake; see, he said so himself in 2008″ theme — which is a gross misrepresentation of Mitt Romney’s actual plan, but hey, it’s not like they’ve ever shied away from pushing false narratives before.

The real odd thing about this is, of course, that Team Obama is airing ads in Michigan at all; what was presumed to have been a safe blue bet not too long ago suddenly finds itself on the roster of toss-ups. They’ve got to counter recent moves from conservative groups and Team Romney, and the auto bailouts are definitely something concrete that resonates with a lot of people in Michigan — which, luckily for Team Obama, means that they have an easy issue to tout that doesn’t get into those pesky weeds of the larger economy, unemployment, and the deficit.

Yesterday, Michigan was on the list of states that, if Obama were to lose them in the election, David Axelrod proclaimed he would “shave his mustache,” but it doesn’t look like they’re taking it for granted, does it?