And by “ghost,” of course, the hardworking staff means former Ted Kennedy advisers. The haunting part is an unaired TV spot from Kennedy’s 1994 reelection campaign that depicted challenger Mitt Romney as a vulture capitalist who helped consulting firm Bain & Co. and investment company Bain Capital purchase and dismantle a variety of American businesses.

From Politico’s Playbook:

When Romney challenged Sen. Ted Kennedy in 1994, it was his connection to those two companies that played a significant role in sinking his campaign, as Democrats tied him to plant closings and worker firings. In 2012, … Bain Capital’s involvement in mass layoffs is likely to haunt Romney in a campaign focused on jobs. … The never-aired ‘bailout’ ad, shared with POLITICO by one of Kennedy’s advisers, remains an unexploded grenade from that race, underscoring Romney’s vulnerability in the first presidential election fought since the 2008 financial meltdown. … The commercial – produced for the DSCC by Doak, Shrum, Harris, Carrier, Devine – highlights Romney’s role in turning around Bain & Co. at a moment of financial distress. … [A] Boston Globe report from 1994 confirms that Bain saw several million dollars in loans forgiven by the FDIC, which had taken over Bain’s failed creditor, the Bank of New England.

The Politico piece – The Bain of Mitt’s Campaign – doesn’t actually show the “never-aired ‘bailout’ ad,” but the hardsearching staff is on the case.

Meanwhile, lots of good 1994 Kennedy-Romney slop here.