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“I feel obliged to unambiguously restate our position: Jeep production will not be moved from the United States to China,” Chrysler chief executive officer Sergio Marchionne said in an email.

“Jeep assembly lines will remain in operation in the United States and will constitute the backbone of the brand … It is inaccurate to suggest anything different.”

Marchionne noted that Chrysler has tripled Jeep production in the United States and added more than 11,200 jobs since 2009. There is a plan to build Jeeps in China but that only shows the strength of the brand, he said.

I feel obliged to unambiguously restate our position: Jeep production will not be moved from the United States to China

One in eight jobs in Ohio relies on the auto industry and the state is seen as particularly crucial to Romney’s campaign. There are almost no realistic paths to the 270 Electoral College votes needed for Romney to win the White House that don’t go through Ohio.

Romney’s campaign still stands behind its new T.V. and radio spots.

“Their comments don’t refute anything in our ad,” said Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul.

Obama, who has moved off the campaign trail to focus on the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, left the political attacks to Vice President Joe Biden, who called the ads an “outrageous lie.”

It’s “one of the most flagrantly dishonest ads I can ever remember in my career,” Biden told Florida voters.

Even some Republicans suggested the ads could backfire in Ohio, where the auto industry is followed religiously.

“It’s the kind of thing that happens late in the campaign, when everybody’s tired and you’re not quite yourself,” Republican pollster and strategist Mike McKenna, who doesn’t work for the Romney campaign, told The Associated PRess.

Obama is up by five points in Ohio, according to the latest Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times poll, at 50% to Romney’s 45%.