Click here to watch "John McCain's Social Security Disgrace."

Going into this election, John McCain might have considered the senior vote a safe play. After all, the 71-year-old GOP senator falls into that age bracket himself, regularly cashes in his retirement checks and leads Barack Obama among voters 65 and older in recent polls.

But a senior advocacy group is aiming to separate the Arizona lawmaker from those voters in light of comments he made a couple weeks ago calling Social Security a "disgrace.” The comments prompted the Alliance For Retired Americans, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, to launch two TV ads in the battleground state of Pennsylvania that call McCain out for shunning Social Security while reaping the benefits.

Continue reading "Social Security Give And Take" »

Click here to watch "Lunsford Gas Tax."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., became the latest Republican to fire an attack ad at his Democratic opponent over the much-discussed issue of gasoline prices late last week. His latest TV ad (subscription), and the first of the general election campaign for McConnell's Senate seat, accuses businessman Bruce Lunsford of raising the gas tax, a move that the McConnell campaign claims "has already cost Kentuckians hundreds of millions." The vote in question was held nearly 30 years ago. But that has not stopped McConnell from insinuating that Lunsford is personally responsible for Kentucky's high fuel prices, even as the national average has shot up over the last several months.

Both parties are trying to use high fuel prices to score political points against their opponents. In a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, 85 percent of respondents said that gasoline prices were extremely or very important to them when considering whom to vote for this year, placing it behind only the economy on voters' list of concerns.

Continue reading "Gas Wars Go National" »

Click here to watch "Every Night."

Oregon Senate candidates Gordon Smith (R) and Jeff Merkley (D) are going after each other's tax records, as the incumbent Smith seeks to portray his opponent as a typical tax-and-spend liberal and Merkley gets more help from state and national Democrats in portraying Smith as a George Bush Republican.

Smith went on the offensive last week, launching twin TV ads lambasting Merkley for raising taxes "44 times" while serving in Oregon's legislature. Merkley "voted for the two largest tax increases in Oregon history," an announcer charges in "44 Times" (subscription), adding that there is barely a single demographic group that has been spared from the increased fiscal burden he helped to create. "Every Night" (subscription) uses video footage of Merkley against the candidate. He is shown telling an audience, "I advocate for tax hikes every night in living rooms across Oregon." "Jeff Merkley isn't kidding," an announcer quips. He's "voted for higher taxes on seniors, farms and income."

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee came to Merkley's aid today, as he still lags far behind Gordon in fundraising revenue and has yet to run a general election ad of his own. "It didn't take long for Gordon Smith to launch misleading negative ads," an announcer remarks in the DSCC's "Long" (subscription).

Continue reading "Tax Attacks In Oregon" »

Click here to watch "Pump."

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Perhaps that’s the idea John McCain is borrowing as he joins virtually every segment of the media -- reporters, pundits and talk-show hosts galore -- in focusing on Barack Obama. Of course, McCain will only follow up to a point -- he’s blasting Obama on everything from Iraq to gasoline prices in a pair of new ads, one of which was released on the eve of Obama’s highly anticipated trip to the Middle East and Europe.

On Friday, the GOP candidate's campaign released "Troop Funding" (subscription), an ad that accuses Obama of flip-flopping on the Iraq war, and followed it up with another spot released today, "Pump" (subscription), that blames high gasoline prices on Obama's unwillingness to drill domestically. While the McCain campaign has released ads before that implicitly attack Obama, these are the first that mention his Democratic rival by name.

Continue reading "Barrage On Barack" »

Click here to watch "DeSoto."

Missouri gubernatorial candidate Jay Nixon (D) invites viewers of his new ad (subscription) to ride along with him through his hometown of DeSoto, Mo. The 60-second biographical spot is the state attorney general’s first ad of the election; he’s been watching from afar as Rep. Kenny Hulshof and state Treasurer Sarah Steelman squabble in the increasingly bitter GOP primary. (Steelman fired another volley (subscription) today.)

Continue reading "There's No Place Like Home" »

Click here to watch "Fighter."

Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu is considered Republicans' best, and perhaps only, target for switching a Senate seat from the blue to the red column in November. Her opponent, state Treasurer John Kennedy, ran for Republican David Vitter's seat in 2004 as a Democrat but switched parties in 2006.

The two appear set for a fierce contest and both reported healthy fundraising totals in June, although Landrieu maintains a cash advantage of about $5.5 million on hand to Kennedy's $2.7 million. She is also leading in early polling, though by about 5 or 6 points, certainly leaving Kennedy within striking distance.

Landrieu unveiled her first TV ad of the cycle Wednesday, previewing her strategy for the contest: highlight the tangible results she has achieved for the state over her two terms in Washington.

Continue reading "Bayou Battle Begins" »

Click here to watch "Out Of Touch."

For Planned Parenthood, John McCain's silence speaks volumes. In a new ad (subscription) released Wednesday, the organization re-airs footage of an interview last week in which McCain paused for nearly 10 seconds before responding to a reporter's question on whether it was fair for insurance companies to cover Viagra but not birth control.

The 30-second spot devotes almost a third of its time to McCain's pause, which is followed by his delayed reply: "I don't know enough about it to give you a informed [sic] answer."

Continue reading "McCain's Birth Control Blooper" »

Click here to watch "Energy Plan."

The race to replace retiring Virginia Sen. John Warner (R) is threatening to turn into a landslide for Mark Warner. Warner, who is not related to the current officeholder, boasts a vast cash advantage over Republican Jim Gilmore in a battle of former governors; the Democrat this week reported $5.1 million in cash on hand, compared with Gilmore’s $117,000. Warner is also dominating Gilmore in early polling; RealClearPolitics.com shows him up by an average of 27 points.

Warner tapped into his funds for his second ad blitz of the general election on Tuesday. His new TV spot, "Energy Plan" (subscription), lays out a multifaceted approach to reducing gasoline prices. The candidate presents America's reliance on foreign oil as a security threat as well as an energy problem, pointing out that "America [is] spending over $1 billion a day on oil from countries who don’t like us." And he chastises a government that "does nothing" while gasoline is “headed to $5 a gallon."

Continue reading "Warner's New Dominion" »

Click here to watch "Some In Washington."

Iraq has taken some of the limelight back from the weak economy this week as both Barack Obama and John McCain have talked up the topic on the presidential trail. Two third-party groups, meanwhile, are up with new ads calling out certain lawmakers on the war.

Vets For Freedom continues its campaign highlighting the success of the surge strategy in Iraq with its latest ad (subscription), launching today in five battleground states. MoveOn.org Political Action, meanwhile, is chastising (subscription) McCain on national cable for not supporting a timetable to withdraw troops from the region.

In the Vets For Freedom spot, called “Some In Washington,” seven veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan call out Washington critics -- specifically Obama and Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. -- for saying early on that the surge would fail. "Some in Washington told us the war was lost," one veteran says. “Others said the surge would fail,” another asserts. "Today, even the harshest critics agree: The surge worked," another one says. The ad concludes by reiterating the message of the group's first ad (subscription): "Finish the job" in Iraq.

MoveOn.org Political Action, on the other hand, isn't too happy about McCain’s rejection of a timetable. In “Timetable,” a narrator says that the Arizona senator is at odds with everyone -- both at home and abroad -- on this issue. "In Chicago, in St. Louis and in Seattle, the American people are demanding a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq," the narrator says. "In Baghdad and Basra and Tikrit, the Iraqi people -- and now the Iraqi prime minister -- are also demanding a timetable. But John McCain doesn't want a timetable."

Continue reading "Of Surges And Timetables" »

The netroots aren't planning to let Democrats off the hook for supporting a law that amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to expand domestic spying powers and grant immunity for telecom firms that have participated in wiretapping.

Web activists are raising money online for a new political action committee, Accountability Now, to purchase ads in early August criticizing Democratic lawmakers for backing the measure, Wired reports.

The Internet-savvy group won't be the first to skewer Dems over this contentious issue. Blue America PAC previously deployed television ads against Reps. John Barrow, D-Ga., and Chris Carney, D-Pa., Blue Dog Democrats who pushed for the bill.

The Senate Commerce Committee, meanwhile, recently compared behavioral profiling to spying during a hearing on Web advertising, Advertising Age reports.

"We don't want the government to go and examine what books we are reading at the local library," Florida Sen. Bill Nelson (D) said, questioning "whether we are going to allow other people within the private sector [to] examine the same thing and then use it for a commercial advantage."

In other advertising news:

Continue reading "Outside The Spotlight: Ads On (Wire)tap" »