All ad summary and tip sheet pages are available to subscribers only.

Louisiana Senate (tip sheet)

• Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu hits back against what she says are misrepresentations of her record on immigration in "Garbage."

Maine Senate (tip sheet)

• The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee says GOP incumbent Susan Collins will not bring needed change to Washington or Maine in "Know."

• Democratic challenger Tom Allen urges voters to learn about the "Big Differences" between him and Collins. Meanwhile, "Worst" links Collins to the Bush administration's economic policies, which Allen blames for the economic crisis.

• Collins fired back with "A Time For Bipartisanship," which criticizes Allen for running attack ads when leaders should be trying to work across the aisle to pass the bailout package.

New Mexico Senate (tip sheet)

• Rep. Tom Udall touts the recently passed G.I. Bill and explains how it will help veterans in "Places."

• Citing Udall's voting record in Congress on issues like energy and the war, Rep. Steve Pearce contends he's "breathtakingly" liberal.

Oregon Senate (tip sheet)

• The DSCC attacks Gordon Smith for his support of Social Security privatization in "Insecure."

• In "19th Hole," the DSCC attacks Smith over his expensive golf clubs and support for privatizing Social Security.

• The NRSC attack ad "Trees" hits Jeff Merkley over his votes on state taxes.

Missouri governor (tip sheet)

• Democrat Jay Nixon says GOP Rep. Kenny Hulshof's policies sent manufacturing jobs "Overseas."

North Carolina governor (tip sheet)

• The Alliance For North Carolina charges that Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory (R) has opted to "Raise" salaries of politicians in lieu of law enforcement, resulting in high crime.

Washington governor (tip sheet)

• In two related ads, Democratic incumbent Christine Gregoire shows two Washington residents criticizing Republican challenger Dino Rossi for not supporting stem cell research: "Real People: Jim Lortz" and "Real People: Jackson."

Click here to watch "Same Path."

The fiscal meltdown is yet again the focal point of dueling Democratic and Republican TV ads today. Barack Obama released another two-minute mini-speech on the state of the nation's economy and how he would depart from the approach taken by President Bush for the last eight years. Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee's independent expenditure arm is out with a spot lambasting Obama's economic policies, which it says would take the country deeper into economic turmoil.

The RNC's new ad is turning heads for not only criticizing Obama's economic agenda, but seemingly contradicting John McCain's message on the federal bailout. While McCain is still attempting to play dealmaker on Capitol Hill and encouraging Congress to pass the legislation, "Worse" (subscription) attacks the deal in the harshest terms. "Wall Street squanders our money and Washington is forced to bail them out with -- you guessed it -- our money," the announcer jeers. According to Ben Smith, the ad was sent out to TV stations early Monday morning, before the bill tanked.

The ad is slated to run in battleground states Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Virginia. Brad Todd, a partner at OnMessage Inc. who produced the spot, said it was a response to a moment in Friday's presidential debate when Obama (as well as McCain) failed to identify a part of his agenda that he would have to put off because of the budget constraints that the next president is sure to face. "The fact that Senator Obama would still spend nearly a trillion dollars even after Congress addresses the financial crisis is something the American public needs to know," Todd maintained.

In Obama's ad (subscription), the Illinois senator speaks straight into the camera, repeating several now-familiar lines about the failure of the Bush administration's trickle-down economic theory. "We know the truth. It didn't work," he says. Acknowledging that "our economy's in turmoil," Obama still attempts to inject a sense of optimism: "I know that we can steer ourselves out of this crisis." Obama then offers several distinctions between his and McCain's tax plans, emphasizing that he does not intend to raise taxes on the majority of Americans.

Click here to watch "Figured."

Oops. Joe Biden declared recently that the Democratic ticket was against clean coal when Barack Obama's energy plan explicitly shows the Illinois senator's support for it. This gaffe, which Biden made at a campaign rally in Ohio, has prompted three new ads -- two by John McCain attacking his opponent over it and one by Obama aiming to emphasize his commitment to clean coal.

Obama's ad makes no attempt to reconcile Biden's comment with the Illinois senator's position on the issue, but rather seeks to portray Obama as a longtime friend of the coal industry. "Figured" (subscription) features Randy Henry, an Illinois miner, vouching for Obama's support of the industry as a state and U.S. senator. While the candidate may be from Chicago, Henry insists that Obama made a concerted effort to visit coal mines in Southern Illinois and help communities that were struggling as mining jobs disappeared.

Meanwhile, the McCain camp released a radio ad, "Clean Coal" (subscription), Monday in Colorado, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia that features a clip of Biden's comment, charging that "Obama-Biden and their liberal allies oppose clean coal." The spot argues for the importance of clean coal, specifically to the residents of the aforementioned battleground states, and links the Democratic ticket's alleged opposition to clean coal with other energy issues. "No energy independence for America? It's no surprise," an announcer says. "After all, Obama-Biden and their liberal allies opposed offshore drilling." The script of the ad is virtually the same in each state; only the reference of the state name changes from market to market.

The McCain camp also released a mocking Web ad last week, "The Coal Miner," which juxtaposes footage of Obama speaking in support of clean coal with Biden speaking in opposition to it. The ad concludes with text on screen reading: "Obama + Biden. Ready to pander? Yes. Ready to lead? No."

-- Mary Gilbert contributed reporting to this post.

An ad that ran briefly on MSNBC last week highlighting John McCain's cancer scars -- complete with unflattering images of the GOP nominee's bandaged face after his melanoma surgery eight years ago -- was pulled from the air after Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly lambasted the spot, calling it "the most vicious political ad of the campaign."

"McCain's Medical Records" (subscription), released by left-leaning groups Democracy For America and Brave New PAC, began airing on MSNBC Thursday. It pairs two doctors' grim diagnoses of melanoma patients with close-up images of McCain's cancer scars and urges McCain to release his medical records in a more thorough fashion than he did in the spring.

NBC spokeswoman Allison Gollust told the Associated Press that "the ad had not been thoroughly vetted prior to air, and has since been removed from our commercial rotation."

"I have no idea what that means," said Democracy for America communications director Daniel Medress. "Both of the gentlemen in the ads are doctors. John McCain is 72 years old. He's had cancer four times. What wasn't vetted?"

CNN also refused to air the ad, without citing a specific reason, Medress said.

Continue reading "McCain Medical Records Ad Pulled From The Airwaves" »

Click here to watch "Parachutes."

Barack Obama continued his economic offensive this afternoon, taking up a topic which he has hit on before (subscription) -- executive pay.

"Parachutes" (subscription) notes that the CEO of Washington Mutual, a bank that collapsed last week, "could walk away with $19 million." It then goes on to point out that one of John McCain's economic advisers, Carly Fiorina, received $42 million when she was fired from Hewlett-Packard in 2005. Footage of Obama at a town hall shows him decrying the practice as "an outrage": "You’ve got corporate executives who are giving themselves million dollar golden parachutes and leaving workers high and dry. That’s wrong."

Click here to watch "Zero."

Within 24 hours of the first presidential debate, both candidates were out with ads attacking the other on the topic they consider themselves more qualified in -- Barack Obama on the economy and John McCain on foreign policy.

The Obama campaign on Saturday morning released "Zero" (subscription), a spot that calls out McCain for not referencing the middle class a single time in the 90-minute forum. "McCain doesn’t get it. Barack Obama does," the announcer proclaims before the ad cuts to footage from the debate. "The fundamentals of the economy have to be measured by whether or not the middle class is getting a fair shake," Obama insists in one clip, while in another he ties McCain's tax plan to the economic policies of the current administration.

McCain was quick out of the gate with an ad of his own. "Promise" (subscription), released Saturday, pits the Democratic ticket against itself, contrasting Obama's vote against a bill to fund troops in Iraq and Afghanistan with statements Joe Biden made during the primary campaign criticizing that position.

Continue reading "Ads Pick Up Where Debate Left Off" »

Click here to view "One Question."

The ONE Campaign against global poverty hit the airwaves today with a TV spot (subscription) calling for John McCain and Barack Obama to address worldwide hunger and disease at the presidential debates.

The nonprofit humanitarian group, which was co-founded by U2 front man Bono, has spent a little over $700,000 to air the ad on national cable to correspond with Friday’s debate. The only problem? McCain's announcement that he's "suspending" his presidential campaign this week because of the economic crisis has thrown the future of that debate into jeopardy.

But ONE insists its message has no expiration date, even if the original intention was to tie their message to an event that attracts tens of millions of viewers. "When the debate does go forward, if it occurs tomorrow or it occurs at the some other time, the issue will still be relevant," said ONE spokeswoman Kimberly Cadena.

Even if the Friday debate goes off as planned, cutting through the media buzz about the ongoing economic crisis may be difficult. In speeches at the Clinton Global Initiative conference this morning, both McCain and Obama focused their remarks on the Wall Street meltdown, and media reports after the fact largely ignored their comments on combating malaria and reducing global poverty.

But, echoing Obama's recent comments that presidents must be able to multitask, Cadena said voters can pay attention to more than one issue at a time. "Voters have been dealing with several different challenges both at home and abroad during this election season," she said. "And they've maintained a level of interest in these problems throughout."

This is not ONE's first foray into presidential politics: The group paid $1.8 million in December to air a similar ad in Iowa and New Hampshire during the primaries, and also ran a second spot featuring actor Matt Damon days before the Democratic convention last month.

Click here to watch "Hunter."

It's open season for the National Rifle Association, which has a spate of new TV, radio and print ads targeting Barack Obama's and Joe Biden's positions on gun rights. In addition to releasing four TV spots in Colorado, New Mexico and Pennsylvania this week, the firearm advocates are also circulating mailers that detail Obama's "10-Point Plan to 'Change' the Second Amendment."

NRA members featured in the ads claim that the Democratic candidates intend to take away people's guns if elected, and they use Obama's "bitter" comments and other tidbits to assert that the Illinois senator doesn't get America's gun owners. Fact-checkers have some serious issues with the spots, however, with FactCheck.org concluding that "the NRA has cherry-picked, twisted and misrepresented Obama's record."

"Where is this guy from?" Virginia resident Karl Rusch demands in "Hunter" (subscription). "He’s probably never been hunting a day in his life." Rusch makes an economic appeal to viewers, contending that with prices already high on fuel and "just about everything else," Obama supports a "huge new tax on... guns and ammo." Detailing other restrictions Obama has reportedly sought on gun ownership, Rusch jeers: "You don’t have to be bitter to know Barack Obama isn’t the kind of change we need."

Rusch's son Kurt is featured in another spot, "Veteran" (subscription). Battle scenes play on screen while Kurt discusses his service in Iraq. "Sure, combat was hell. But on the front lines I knew I served a real purpose: defeating terrorism, protecting our way of life," he says. But now, he asserts, Obama is trying to take away his right to own a handgun for protection. "There’s no way I’m voting for a president who will take that away -- the freedoms that I fought for, that my friends died to defend," Kurt angrily insists.

Continue reading "NRA Loading Up To Take On The Dems" »

Click here to watch "My Friends' Mess."

John McCain sure has a lot of friends MoveOn.org doesn't approve of. After releasing the first ad of its $7 million fall campaign last week calling the GOP nominee out for his "friends" in the oil industry, the group unveiled another one today that links more of McCain's "friends," including President Bush, to the financial crisis.

Like MoveOn's previous ad, "My Friends' Mess" (subscription) capitalizes on the McCain phrase "my friends," which he often says to emphasize a point. "We all know the economy is in crisis. But who's responsible?" the announcer asks. According to MoveOn, the blame lies with former Texas Sen. and McCain economic adviser Phil Gramm, as well as McCain campaign manager Rick Davis. The spot claims that their work legislating or lobbying for banking deregulation has contributed to the current market "mess."

The latter half of the 60-second ad takes on an increasingly caustic tone, rejecting the bailout plan Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. have proposed, calling it "the biggest blank check in history." "Main Street giving Wall Street $700 billion -- and getting nothing in return? It's outrageous," the announcer jeers. "Americans shouldn't have to foot the bill for mistakes that John McCain and his friends made."

MoveOn communications director Ilyse Hogue said the group aims to cast doubt on McCain's trustworthiness. "It's very important that Americans really understand that McCain's judgment includes the people he chooses to surround himself with in his campaign," Hogue said. "These are the people who got us into the mess."

Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant criticized MoveOn for releasing the negative ad just as Congress is working on the bailout plan and McCain himself has suspended his campaign. "Barack Obama's liberal allies are launching a partisan attack at the precise moment we should be putting politics aside and working to solve the problem," Conant said in an e-mail. "These sorts of false attacks by special interest groups are part of what's wrong with Washington."

Click here to watch "A Stronger Economy."

As part of his recently announced campaign suspension, John McCain is pulling all of his TV ads off-air. But, as when he dismissed McCain's request to postpone Friday's debate, Barack Obama is again refusing to follow his rival's lead. The Illinois senator is not only leaving his ads up; he released a new 60-second spot this morning -- the second ad in as many weeks in which Obama speaks directly to viewers about what he would do as president to help set the economy back on the right track.

In "A Stronger Economy" (subscription), Obama begins by criticizing the deregulatory policies that he says led to the crisis. "Instead of prosperity trickling down," as the administration has been promising for the last eight years, he says, "pain has trickled up." He maintains: "We need to change direction. Now." Obama then outlines the main points of his policy prescription, vowing to put middle-class families ahead of Wall Street CEO's.

While polls have shown mixed assessments of Obama's ability to handle the economy relative to McCain's, his steady rise in head-to-head numbers over the past two weeks -- while the economy has been in the national spotlight -- is undeniable.

John McCain on Wednesday proposed a temporary suspension of the presidential campaign -- including a cease-fire in ad spending -- to focus on the ongoing economic crisis. But as of this morning, ads continued to air across the country. McCain spokesman Brian Rogers assured one reporter that the ads were indeed being pulled, but "this takes time."

Barack Obama, meanwhile, not only brushed aside McCain's calls to postpone Friday's presidential debate; his campaign also made clear it wasn't interested in halting its ads, releasing a minute-long spot on the economy this morning.

In other advertising news:

• Both the McCain and Obama camps have been targeting male voters by advertising on regional sports networks, particularly in Big Ten states. (Wall Street Journal)

• The National Association of Realtors PAC is spending millions to advertise in seven battleground House races. (The Hill)

• Yahoo unveiled a new platform for selling display ads online that would allow publishers and advertisers to reach users based on behavioral targeting. (New York Times)

• Overall ad spending in the second quarter took its biggest quarterly drop since 2001. (Mediaweek)

• A Democratic lawyer and activist in Indiana has asked Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) to pull a recent ad featuring the director of a local children's nonprofit, saying the spot violates the group's nonprofit status. (Fort Wayne Journal Gazette)

• Vermont Democrats are bristling over an ad from Gov. Jim Douglas (R) that goes after Democratic challenger Gaye Symington on her personal financial disclosures. (AP)

• Las Vegas news stations, their revenues slumping as local businesses cut back on advertising, are being buoyed by ad spending from the presidential campaigns. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

• An ad war is raging in Colorado over a proposed amendment that would raise taxes on gas and oil companies, pitting the state's Democratic governor and environmentalists against seven energy companies. (Rocky Mountain News)

After releasing an ad -- or two or three -- per day, John McCain's camp announced Wednesday that, as part of suspending its presidential campaign in light of the financial crisis, it's also holding off on running or releasing any advertisements.

"In addition to suspending his campaign to return to Washington to work for a bipartisan solution to this problem, this campaign is suspending its advertising and fundraising," spokesman Brian Rogers said in a statement Wednesday evening. The duration of the delay was not specified.

This suspension leaves the GOP nominee's ad strategy -- outlined by McCain advertising guru Fred Davis at the GOP convention -- in limbo. Will the ads originally slated to run in the coming days be postponed? Will they run at all? Will this mean an influx of ads once an agreement is settled on the bailout?

Another question is how the suspension will influence McCain's outreach to voters compared to Barack Obama. The Democratic nominee has increased his ad spending by 50 percent and ramped up efforts in battleground states, while McCain has remained steady in both spending and market buys. Voters could see the suspension as commendable -- that McCain cares more about the financial well-being of Americans than the election. But it remains to be seen whether his absence from TV screens across the country will simply keep him "out of sight, out of mind" among voters more than anything else.

Click here to watch "McCain's Health Records."

John McCain has had cancer four times and would be the oldest president ever elected, yet, according to two left-leaning groups, the 72-year-old GOP nominee hasn't been open enough with the public about his medical records.

In a new ad (subscription) scheduled to begin running nationwide Thursday, Democracy for America and Brave New PAC pairs doctors' grim diagnosis of melanoma patients with unflattering images of McCain's cancer scars. "The relevance of knowing the details of his course with melanoma are very important," says Dr. Michael Frakin, a palliative care specialist from Eureka, Calif., in the ad. "Another bout of cancer for John McCain while he is president of the United States would profoundly impact his capacity to lead." Another doctor outlines the severity of melanoma. "Melanoma is the deadliest of skin cancers and the chances of survival, if you have melanoma spread through your body, are very, very slim," warns Dr. Noah Craft, a melanoma specialist from Los Angeles. The ad concludes with text on screen asking "Why won't John McCain release his Medical Records?"

Continue reading "Doctors Demand Release Of McCain Medical Records" »

Click here to watch "Foreign Vehicles."

Barack Obama is taking advantage of Newsweek's recent report that John McCain and his wife, Cindy, own 13 cars, some of which are not American-made.

The Illinois senator launched a new TV ad (subscription) in Michigan this afternoon referencing the McCains' foreign-made cars to suggest that the Arizona senator does not support the American auto industry -- an issue that could resonate in this battleground state, where the RealClearPolitics poll average shows Obama ahead by just 5 points.

The ad opens with footage of an interview in which McCain vows: "I've bought American literally all my life." "Oh, really?" an announcer jeers. In addition to owning a foreign-made Lexus, a Volkswagen and a Honda Sedan, the ad claims that McCain opposed giving federal loans to the auto industry. Text onscreen charges that the Arizona senator is "Not Talking Straight To Michigan," and the announcer urges voters: "Don't believe John McCain when he says he'll help Michigan."

To be fair, the Newsweek report states that McCain's name actually appears on only one of the 13 car titles -- that of a 2004 Cadillac -- while the rest are registered to his wife's name or her business. The Obamas, meanwhile, share a 2008 Ford Escape hybrid.

Click here to listen to "Crisis Economica -- Fla."

Barack Obama is taking his economic message to another voting bloc today, releasing Spanish-language TV and radio ads slamming John McCain's fiscal policy in four battleground states -- Colorado, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico -- where the Latino vote could determine which candidate walks away with a lot of electoral votes.

Both the TV and radio spots use clips of McCain saying last week, in the midst of a collapse on Wall Street, that the "fundamentals of our economy are strong." "McCain and the Republicans have no clue about the struggles of the middle class and working people," an announcer charges in the Florida radio version (subscription), citing statistics on the state's rising unemployment and foreclosure rates.

The Nevada version of the TV spot makes an appeal to "mothers and fathers who have lost their jobs," "families at risk of losing their homes," and "every child out of the 45 million people who have no health care," arguing that although the "prosperity of our families" should be the president's greatest "obligation," that's something "McCain and the Republicans don't want to bother themselves with."

All ad summary and tip sheet pages are available to subscribers only.

Colorado Senate (tip sheet)

• The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee criticizes former Rep. Bob Schaffer (R) for his ties to the petroleum industry in "Silent Bob."

• Freedom's Watch, a conservative foreign policy group, attacks Democratic Rep. Mark Udall for his onetime support of a bill that would have created a "Department of Peace."

• Meanwhile, in "Record," the National Republican Senatorial Committee hits Udall for his positions on taxes, energy and defense.

• The Club for Growth also gets in on the action against Udall, accusing him in "Property" of making it "easier for government to take private property" from Colorado citizens.

Louisiana Senate (tip sheet)

• Republican challenger John Kennedy alleges that Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) swapped political favors for campaign donations with a lobbying firm in "Fundraiser."

• In "Pennies," Landrieu attacks Kennedy over a report showing he cost Louisiana $37 million in potential revenue as treasurer.

Maine Senate (tip sheet)

• Democratic Rep. Tom Allen touts his accomplishments as a congressman in "Effective."

• Meanwhile, in "Jobs For Maine," GOP incumbent Susan Collins presents her successes in bringing good jobs to the state.

New Hampshire Senate (tip sheet)

• The Club For Growth slams former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen's record, criticizing the Democratic challenger's support of new taxes and opposition to lawsuit reform in "Add Up."

• The NRSC also released a spot criticizing Shaheen's record on taxes.

New Mexico Senate (tip sheet)

• Democratic Rep. Tom Udall's attack ad depicts Rep. Steve Pearce (R) as "Polly" the parrot, simply repeating what Big Oil says.

North Carolina Senate (tip sheet)

• In "Game," the DSCC tries to discredit an attack ad run by GOP incumbent Elizabeth Dole against state Sen. Kay Hagan (D) over energy prices, arguing that Dole is the one really tied to Big Oil. "Gas Station" is another DSCC energy attack on Dole.

• The NRSC uses a Dr. Seuss-style cartoon to criticize Hagan on tax hikes in "Pedal."

South Dakota Senate (tip sheet)

• Republican challenger Joel Dykstra released his debut TV ad, in which he urges his opponent to engage in a more robust public debate about the issues.

• Democratic incumbent Tim Johnson presents his record on "Energy" issues and his plan to achieve energy independence in a new spot.

North Carolina governor (tip sheet)

• Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory's sister aims to discredit an attack ad that criticized the Republican's position supporting stem-cell research. She contends McCrory does "The Right Thing."

Click here to watch "Bermuda."

Another day, another pair of dueling "ads" from Barack Obama and John McCain. While McCain attempted to change the subject Monday, releasing a spot about Obama's origins in the shady world of Chicago politics, both candidates once again focused their attacks on economic issues today.

Obama's "Bermuda" (subscription), reportedly running on national cable, suggests that, during a 2007 visit to this island getaway, McCain was up to more than sunbathing and snorkeling. McCain "pledged to protect tax breaks for American corporations that hide their profits offshore," an announcer alleges. What's more, he continues, McCain later received $50,000 from "grateful insurance company executives and their lobbyists who benefit from the tax scheme."

McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds was quick to retort. "Barack Obama's ad cleverly ignores two key facts: His own campaign headquarters is provided by a company based in Bermuda and is guilty of the very same off-shore benefits he's attacking," he said in a statement. "Obama has a stronger record of hypocrisy than he does making change in Washington."

Meanwhile, in McCain's "Mum" (subscription), also released this morning, the GOP nominee claims that Obama and his "liberal allies" are "mum on the market crisis." The ad cites a Washington Times article from Friday reporting that Obama opted not to give details of his recovery plan and a Bloomberg story from last week quoting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., as saying that no one, including Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Congress, "knows what to do."

The ad employs one of the staple messages put forth by the McCain campaign -- that Obama doesn't have the experience needed to lead in a crisis, while McCain and his "congressional allies" do. The announcer also emphasizes McCain's reputation as a reformer, contending that he will impose "tough rules on Wall Street."

It's worth noting that, since Reid's comment on Sept. 17, there has been a whole host of developments on Wall Street and Capitol Hill. The $700 billion bailout plan proposed by Paulson, for instance, wasn't introduced until the weekend.

-- Amy Harder contributed reporting to this post.

Click here to watch "Chicago Machine."

John McCain is striking Barack Obama on his home turf in Chicago, the latest attack on a candidate's associates in the presidential race.

In "Chicago Machine" (subscription), released this morning, the McCain camp links Obama to a handful of prominent -- and controversial -- Illinois political figures. It begins with Obama's own words: "In terms of my toughness -- look, first of all, I come from Chicago." An announcer then says Obama was "born of the corrupt Chicago political machine." The ad goes on to tie four figures to Obama: William Daley, former commerce secretary and now a lobbyist; convicted felon Tony Rezko; Illinois Senate President Emil Jones (Obama's "political godfather," the ad claims); and Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Citing various reports calling their ethics into question, the ad concludes, "With friends like that, Obama is not ready to lead."

The Obama camp quickly responded by pointing out reports published today that question McCain campaign manager Rick Davis' ties to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. "It's no coincidence that on the very day newspapers reported that John McCain's campaign manager was paid $2 million to lobby against tighter regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the McCain campaign would launch this false, gratuitous attack," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said.

In a morning conference call with reporters, however, Davis adamantly denied any questionable lobbying activities on behalf of the lenders. He said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were just two of the nearly 20 organizations that contributed to the advocacy group of which he was president. He added that it's been three years since he's had any contact with anyone with the group.

The tactic is nothing new for either candidate in this race. Obama has gone directly or indirectly after conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh and various McCain surrogates including former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm; McCain has done the same with Obama's ties to former Fannie Mae chiefs Jim Johnson and Franklin Raines.

Steve Schmidt, a McCain-Palin senior adviser, said the media has shown the Obama camp preferential treatment. "You may not read this on the front page of the New York Times, but the Obama campaign is surrounded by people who have worked in the lobbyist industry," Schmidt said in Monday's conference call. He cited Hunter Biden, the son of Obama running mate Joe Biden, for lobbying work on behalf of the "credit card and banking interests." A spokesman for Biden has already refuted that claim. Schmidt also took aim at Obama's chief adviser, David Axelrod, and his possible lobbyist background.

"Chicago Machine" will air nationwide and focus on the handful of states that are emerging as battlegrounds, Davis said in the conference. Responding to a question of whether this will "actually air," considering all the talk surrounding "phantom ads" -- ads that are officially released but don't see any substantial air time -- Davis responded, "this is a real buy," implying a difference with some other ads from the camp.

Click here to listen to "Hall."

The race between Barack Obama and John McCain is neck-and-neck in the bellwether state of Ohio, according to the latest polls. But Obama is getting a boost in the state among a traditional Republican voting bloc -- evangelical Christians -- from the Matthew 25 Network, a group that claims to be the first Christian PAC of its kind.

Today, Matthew 25 is launching the first of a planned series of ads supporting Obama on Christian radio stations throughout the Buckeye State. The new spot (subscription) features former Rep. Tony Hall of Dayton, a self-described pro-life Democrat discussing how his Christian faith is leading him to vote for Obama.

Hall describes the hardships plaguing many Ohio families and claims that "we need a president who sees those who are hurting and cares for the least of these." He highlights the fact that "as a child, Barack knew hard times, too," and he stresses Obama's own faith: "As a Christian, Barack believes that God calls us to care for those who are in need. He has spent his life doing just that."

Hall told reporters today that what most impressed him about Obama was his decision to forgo a high-paying job when he graduated from college and move to Chicago to help neighborhoods struggling from plant closings. "I think he’ll be tremendous for the poor people in this country," Hall said.

Mara Vanderslice, the group's executive director, emphasized the timeliness of this ad, as it asks Christian voters to consider the larger implications of the recent economic crisis. Bart Campolo, a minister involved with Matthew 25, said that, as the government undertakes the biggest restructuring of the economic sector in nearly a decade, the American people should make sure that we have someone in the White House "who will restructure the country in a way that works for everyone," not just Wall Street.

Click here to watch "Article."

Barack Obama is continuing his onslaught on John McCain's kitchen table platform -- and his efforts to reach out to working women, as a new Lifetime Television survey shows this demographic shifting dramatically in McCain's favor after the Sarah Palin pick.

This morning, Obama launched "Article" (subscription), linking McCain's support for banking deregulation to his health care plan. "We've seen what Bush-McCain policies have done to our economy," the announcer charges as logos from Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Fannie Mae flash onscreen. "Now John McCain wants to do the same to our health care." Citing an article [PDF] McCain recently published in Contingencies Magazine, the ad claims that McCain would move to "reduce oversight of the health insurance industry," a plan which the ad quotes the Boston Globe as calling "a prescription for disaster."

Meanwhile, "Need Education" (subscription), released at the end of last week, builds on a previous ad (subscription) from the Illinois senator on McCain's refusal to support legislation requiring equal pay for men and women. The spot features Lilly Ledbetter, a longtime Goodyear employee who filed suit claiming that she had been paid 40 percent less than her male counterparts. Though Ledbetter lost her appeal [PDF] before the Supreme Court, her case spurred Congress to take up legislation mandating equal pay. The measure failed to pass a Senate vote in April.

In the ad, Ledbetter calls out McCain for opposing the law, says "he dismissed the wage gap," and quotes him as saying that women merely “need education and training" instead. Arguing that her family suffered as a result of her lost wages, Ledbetter concludes: "On the economy, it’s John McCain who needs an education."

Click here to watch "Obama-Chavez."

John McCain countered Barack Obama's tough Spanish-language TV ad this week with one of his own today.

Two days after Obama came out with "Dos Caras," McCain countered with "Obama-Chavez" (subscription), which juxtaposes footage of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez denouncing the U.S. with Obama's comments last year that he would meet with Chavez soon after becoming president.

The ad shows Chavez at a rally, reproaching the U.S. with some profanity bleeped out. In translation: "Go to h*ll, you filthy Yankees!" and "We, you filthy Yankees, know that we are resolute to be free, no matter what happens, and at any cost!" The announcer asks viewers: "Do you believe we should talk with Chavez?... In November, you decide." At a CNN/YouTube primary debate in July 2007, Obama said he would meet "without preconditions" and within the first year of his administration with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela -- a remark he has taken heat for ever since.

McCain is coming off an international gaffe of his own; he recently said he would not promise to meet with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero, going so far as to lump him in with Chavez and other Latin American leaders known for their traditionally hostile relationships with the U.S.

"Obama-Chavez" is running in the battleground state of Florida. That also happens to be where Obama is touring today -- and where the Illinois senator took a salvo from Republican Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart over "Dos Caras," which links McCain to conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh and President Bush's "failed policies."

"It is offensive and dishonest for Barack Obama to lie about John McCain's record on immigration and years of support for the Hispanic community when it was Barack Obama himself who voted for 'poison pill' amendments that killed the effort at immigration reform," Diaz-Balart said in a statement. "Instead of making false ads with baseless attacks, Barack Obama should be apologizing to the Latino community."

Click here to watch "Repower America."

Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection began flooding the cable news networks Thursday with a TV spot (subscription) that attacks the oil industry for lobbying against renewable energy legislation.

“Why are we still stuck on dirty and expensive energy?” the narrator asks as the camera pans over an offshore oil rig followed by a suitcase full of cash. “Because Big Oil spends hundreds of millions of dollars to block clean energy.”

Donations to keep the ad running started pouring in even before the spot aired: Within six hours of e-mailing the video to its members, the group said, they raised $150,000 in contributions.

While "Big Oil" remains a favorite villain of political advertising, the spot comes at a time when momentum is growing for increased domestic drilling: The House voted this week to allow oil exploration offshore, a conservative group recently hit the airwaves with pro-drilling spot and the battle cry "drill, baby, drill" is now part of the country's political lexicon.

But there are also encouraging signs for advocates of renewable energy, including broad public support for wind and solar and measures in the House drilling bill that would incentivize alternative energy and roll back subsidies for oil companies. The Alliance isn't alone blaming K Street for holding back a shift away from fossil fuels.

“The technology is there," said Mark Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University. "The problem is lobbyists for other technologies -- nuclear, coal, biofuels -- that don’t do what they claim.”

And, he warned, don't expect John McCain or Barack Obama to change the status quo.

"You look at the presidential candidates, one is pushing biofuels, which are a joke," Jacobson said of Obama. "And the other is pushing nuclear power, which is a danger to American national security.”

Click here to watch "Who Advises."

In a week when kitchen table issues have returned to the forefront of the presidential campaign, Barack Obama and John McCain are each battling to prove that they would be the right man to lead the country in a time of economic uncertainty. On the airwaves, that has translated into a series of shots at one another's economic plans. Thursday afternoon and Friday morning saw a shift in messages, as both candidates went after the other's economic advisers.

Obama's "Who Advises" (subscription) targets McCain's connections with former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm. Meanwhile, two spots out by McCain aim to cast doubt on his opponent's economic judgment by linking him to former Fannie Mae chiefs Jim Johnson (subscription) and Franklin Raines (subscription).

This campaign season seems to have shed an unusual spotlight on campaign surrogates, from Samantha Powers' "monster" flap to Geraldine Ferraro's implication that Obama was winning the Democratic primaries because he is black.

But do voters really care about these peripheral figures? According to McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, they do. Speaking with Fox News' Sean Hannity on Wednesday, Palin said that, in determining their vote, Americans are "looking at voting records, and they're looking at allegiances."

Continue reading "Economic Surrogate Smackdown" »

Another day closer to Nov. 4 means another ad -- or two or three -- released on behalf of John McCain and Barack Obama. But whether those ads actually make it on the air as legitimate commercials rather than part of a newscast is a different story. Evan Tracey, head of TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group, a firm that tracks political advertising, spoke with NationalJournal.com about these so-called "phantom" ads. Edited excerpts follow.

Q: Can you briefly describe the ad strategies that have developed with both presidential campaigns?

Tracey: It's a unique dynamic to this presidential race. With the 24/7 content needs of the 24/7 media, between the blogs and cable news, the campaigns have done a very good job of exploiting this in the sense that they can release what are supposed to be TV commercials that are really sort of video press releases that they can then feed into this beast that’s the 24/7 media. They become amplified by the press so they don't interfere with the campaign's real message strategy.... The ad gets shown for free, and you have partisan commentary on either side of the ads in the form of talking heads, pundits and, in some cases, journalists....

The candidates obviously aren't going to be in debates every day. This is the way they can have their debates. It's the political equivalent of dueling banjos.

Q: Did this sort of ad tactic happen in the 2004 presidential election?

Tracey: There were certainly examples of this in 2004, but not to the extent we have now. What the campaigns have gotten very savvy about is the whole timing aspect of this. If you’ve noticed, most of the new "ads" are produced and released in the mid-afternoons of a particular day. We all know what’s happening in the mid-afternoons -- the cable news shows are planning what they’re going to talk about that evening. In essence, [the cable news channels say], "OK, great, we can show these new ads, that kills five minutes, check that off the list." And that carries over into the morning news shows. In some respects, it's written about and blogged about.... This is a way for campaigns to look like they're on top of the issues of the day.

Q: Can you apply this ad tactic specifically to the campaigns of McCain and Obama?

Tracey: If you look at the ads that they're actually placing, both the Obama and McCain campaigns are running thousands of commercials a day, and usually 95 percent of those rotations are two spots. When they're releasing new spots every day, what they're not doing is taking down the spots that they know are working with voters.

It's really a two-tiered election. In this top tier that these video press releases, phantom ads, are basically going into is this cable-news-watching, opinion-leader-journalist-type audience that's churning and amplifying [the ads]. What's most interesting is a lot of the ads themselves are fairly hard-hitting or have very sharp elbows. Those were the kinds of messages that used to be buried in direct mail; maybe niche-radio-type spots. They weren't made into TV ads....

What they're running, putting a lot of money behind in their rotations, are not necessarily those of hard-hitting ads.

Continue reading "Q&A: Campaigns Capitalize on 24/7 News Cycle With 'Phony' Ads" »

Click here to watch "Dos Caras."

John McCain has been catching a lot of heat for several of his recent TV ads, with even the likes of Karl Rove acknowledging that the McCain spots don't always pass the truth test. But Barack Obama has launched some controversial ads of his own recently, including "Dos Caras" (subscription), a new Spanish-language spot -- running in Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada, with plans for a buy in Florida -- that links McCain to radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh's rhetoric.

Flashing quotes from Limbaugh on screen -- "...stupid and unskilled Mexicans" and "you shut your mouth or you get out" -- an announcer laments that Republicans have "made" Latinos "feel marginalized in this country we love so much." He then goes on to accuse McCain and the GOP of having "two faces" when it comes to immigration policy: "One that tells lies just to get our vote. And another, even worse, that continues the failed policies of George Bush that put special interests ahead of working families."

But as ABC's Jake Tapper points out, Limbaugh's quotes are taken out of context in the spot. Moreover, McCain and Limbaugh have hardly been of one mind when it comes to immigration policy. The conservative talk show host lambasted the bill the Arizona senator put forth earlier this year and was one of McCain's most vociferous critics during the Republican primary race.

There's no doubt that the tone of advertising coming out of both the presidential candidates' camps has taken a negative turn over the past several weeks. Contrary to what most talking heads have been suggesting, however, Obama and not McCain ran a larger percentage of attack ads in the week following the Republican National Convention, according to a new study [PDF] from the Wisconsin Ad Project. Whereas 56 percent of McCain's spots could be characterized as negative, according to the report, over three-fourths of Obama's ads had some not-so-nice things to say about his rival.

Sarah Niebler of the Wisconsin Ad Project said that this is the first week the group has examined in which Obama has outpaced McCain in attack ads. "Ultimately we think this campaign is about Obama. People know a lot about McCain... so it seems more likely that as the campaign continues, Obama will run ads about Obama. McCain will also run ads about Obama. But this week, for whatever strategic reason... there was a shift," she explained.

Click here to watch "Dome."

John McCain may pride himself on bucking his party in the Senate, but when it comes to funding his campaign ads, he certainly doesn't shy away from the GOP.

A report [PDF] released Wednesday by the Wisconsin Advertising Project, an effort by the University of Wisconsin to track political ad spending, showed a huge disparity in the funding relationships between each candidate and his respective party committee. More than half of McCain's ads -- 57 percent -- were co-sponsored by the Republican National Committee. In comparison, a mere 3 percent of Barack Obama's were paid for by the Democratic National Committee.

One possibility for this disparity is that Obama opted out of public funding for the election, while McCain didn't and is thus constrained by the $84 million amount allocated for him. With Obama tallying a record $66 million month of fundraising in August, he's clearly in no rush to tap the resources of the DNC, which is cash-poor compared to the RNC.

Reiterating the report's findings are three ads the McCain campaign launched today. While officially released as "McCain-Palin" ads, the spots are actually co-sponsored by the RNC, evidenced only in the ads' credits. In the hardest-hitting of the three, "Dome" (subscription), an announcer says that Obama and congressional Democrats favor "massive government" that would wreak financial havoc on Americans.

The camp followed up that nationwide buy with a pair of targeted ads in the battleground states of Michigan (subscription) and Ohio (subscription), each telling voters there that a McCain administration will work hard to restore their economies and create more jobs.

Click here to watch "Burden."

All eyes are on Wall Street this week, and Barack Obama has a slew of economy-related ads out in battleground states. He is also using the opportunity to appeal to a group that has shown signs of straying from his camp with John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate: working women.

"Burden" (subscription) paints McCain's record on women's issues as questionable. Pointing out that working women average just 77 cents to the dollar that men make, the announcer claims that McCain has voted against legislation making equal pay mandatory, saying that "women just need more 'education and training.'" She asserts, "It's one more thing John McCain doesn't get about our economy."

The McCain campaign responded to the ad, which is running in Virginia and on national cable, by pointing out that on average, McCain pays female staffers in his Senate office better than Obama does.

Obama's fiscal fulminations don't stop there. "Sold Us Out" (subscription), running in Pennsylvania, describes a plant closing in which workers were fired, then rehired to pack up the equipment and ship it to China. "Washington sold them out, with the help of people like John McCain," the announcer charges, citing McCain's votes for legislation giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas.

A Michigan TV ad, previously unreleased to the media, implies that McCain is willing to risk Americans' "Social Security" (subscription) savings in a time of a "Crisis On Wall Street" by supporting President Bush's calls for privatization. "The Bush-McCain privatization plan: Can you really afford more of the same?" the ad asks viewers.

Wolverine State viewers are also seeing an unreleased spot criticizing McCain's energy policy. Opening with a shot of a Middle Eastern oil field, "Alternative" (subscription) says: "We must end our addiction to foreign oil." But McCain has repeatedly voted against tax incentives for alternative sources of fuel, the announcer proclaims, instead supporting tax breaks for Big Oil. "If you have different priorities," the spot says in closing, "there’s an alternative to John McCain."

Click here to watch "Foundation."

Amid financial turmoil on Wall Street, Barack Obama released a rare two-minute spot today that delves into his proposals for reviving the economy, and John McCain released two 30-second ads Tuesday afternoon and this morning that focus on the GOP nominee's plans to reform Wall Street. Both candidates speak directly to viewers in these ads to reassure them that Wall Street and Washington -- not voters -- are to blame for the ailing economy.

"Wall Street's been rocked as banks closed and markets tumbled," Obama says in "Plan For Change" (subscription). "Six hundred thousand Americans have lost their jobs since January. Paychecks are flat and home values are falling. It's hard to pay for gas and groceries." The Illinois senator goes on to outline his plans to revive the economy, touching on everything from investing in renewable energy to ending the Iraq war. The ad doesn't mention McCain, but Obama does denounce the "petty attacks and distractions" that have "consumed" the election thus far.

In the more hard-hitting of McCain's two ads, "Foundation" (subscription), the Arizona senator speaks directly to "American workers," calling them "the best in the world." In a stark contrast to Obama's ad, McCain explicitly calls out his opponent, saying Obama's "only solutions" to the economic crisis "are talk and taxes." The GOP nominee goes on to assert that he'll "reform Wall Street and fix Washington," and concludes by implicitly referencing his military record: "I've taken on tougher guys than this before."

"Foundation," released early this morning, comes fresh on the heels of "Enough Is Enough" (subscription), which was unveiled Tuesday afternoon. This spot reiterates much the same message as another ad, "Crisis," that the campaign released Monday in direct response to the collapse of the financial firm Lehman Brothers. "I'll meet this financial crisis head on," McCain says in "Enough Is Enough." "Reform Wall Street. New rules for fairness and honesty. I won't tolerate a system that puts you and your family at risk."

McCain's trio of ads -- all explicitly underscoring the severity of the financial crisis -- illustrate the nominee's "turnabout" since initially reacting to the crisis on Monday by repeating his earlier claim that "the fundamentals of the economy are strong."

Click here to listen to "Change Or More Of The Same?"

Coinciding with the travel schedule of Barack Obama this week, the Republican National Committee is re-airing a pair of radio ads in Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.

"Change Or More Of The Same?" (subscription), which initially started running in New Hampshire on Sept. 12, slams Obama and running mate Joe Biden for seeking earmarks, contending that the GOP ticket has fought against this type of spending. The ad is now running in Nevada, New Mexico and Denver.

"Commitment v. Rhetoric" (subscription), is a Spanish-language spot that the RNC launched Aug. 23 in Colorado, New Mexico, Las Vegas and El Paso, Texas. This ad, now running again in Vegas, argues that John McCain has pushed for immigration reform in the Senate while Obama has not.

"The ads are aimed to ensure that voters in these key states are aware of Obama's real record on the important issues facing our country," said RNC spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson.

Click here to watch "Gianna."

A new pro-life 527 group, BornAliveTruth.org, has hit the airwaves with a TV spot (subscription) attacking Barack Obama for his votes against the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act in the Illinois state Senate.

The spot -- running in New Mexico and Ohio with $350,000 behind it and the possibility of an expanded campaign later on -- features Gianna Jessen, a 31-year old woman who survived a botched abortion attempt. “Can you imagine not giving babies their basic human rights, no matter how they entered our world?” she asks. "If Barack Obama had his way, I wouldn’t be here.”

Jessen is referring to a series of votes Obama made in the Illinois Senate against a bill that would have required doctors to provide medical care to fetuses that survive late-term abortions.

An Obama campaign spokesman declined to comment on the ad, but in the past, Obama and pro-choice advocates have argued that the bill would have undermined Roe v. Wade. They have also pointed out that physicians were already required under state law to preserve the life and health of any fetus surviving an abortion.

Jessen, a vocalist and motivational speaker, is a familiar face in pro-life circles, thanks in part to a controversial appearance (subscription) at the Colorado state legislature on the day the House was considering honoring Planned Parenthood.

Nor is this the first foray into politics for BornAliveTruth.org's executive director, Jill Stanek. A registered nurse, Stanek campaigned against Obama during his 2004 Senate run on this same issue and maintains an influential anti-abortion blog. Hardly one to mince words (she once labeled Michael J. Fox a "cannibal" for his support of stem cell research), Stanek said in an interview that Obama "endorses fourth-trimester abortions -- infanticide.”

Click here to watch "My Friends."

According to a new attack ad out today from MoveOn.org, the John McCain campaign has several advisers with "friends" in the wrong places: oil companies.

The first ad (subscription) of the progressive group's $7 million fall campaign highlights the staple McCain phrase "my friends," which he often says to emphasize a point. MoveOn takes that phrase to mean "the 177 lobbyists who have ties to his campaign." An announcer says, "McCain got $2 million from energy companies. And he didn't support the measures we need to get cleaner, cheaper fuel." The highlighted lobbyists fill various roles in McCain's camp, including Charlie Black as his senior adviser and Randy Scheunemann as his foreign policy adviser.

This spot reiterates a message Barack Obama's camp stressed in an ad released last week. "It's Over" (subscription) questions assertions McCain has made about not catering to special interests and shows members of his team who do lobbying work (a point to which the Washington Post's Fact Checker blog took exception today)

CORRECTION: The original headline of this post misattributed the criticism.

Click here to watch "Fundamentals."

With Wall Street still reeling from news of Lehman Brothers' failure and Merrill Lynch's sale to Bank of America, Barack Obama is seizing on comments made that same morning by rival John McCain. The only sound in "Fundamentals" (subscription) is ominous music and a familiar line that McCain delivered again Monday in Florida: "Our economy, I think, still -- the fundamentals of our economy are strong."

The 30-second spot -- running in "key states," per the campaign -- flashes various messages underscoring the severity of the financial crisis: "Lehman Brothers collapses," "markets in turmoil," "job losses at 605,000 for the year" and "foreclosures at 9,800 a day." It goes on to air footage of McCain at the Florida rally and asks on screen: "How can John McCain fix our economy if he doesn't understand it's broken?" The ad concludes with the Democrats' signature attack strategy: showing a photo of McCain with the unpopular President Bush.

Continue reading "Obama Hammers McCain On Strength Of Fundamentals" »

Click here to watch "Honor."

Barack Obama is continuing his on-air offensive, launching another negative ad about John McCain's lobbyist ties over the weekend and using scathing editorials today to suggest that McCain isn't fighting fair. The Illinois senator is also getting some help from a labor union that endorsed him in the primaries: The Service Employees International Union announced that it will spend $2 million running an anti-McCain spot in several battleground states.

In "His Administration" (subscription), Obama builds on a TV spot released last week about the former lobbyists on McCain's campaign team, alleging that the same Washington insiders would run a McCain White House. Pouncing on the recent announcement that Bill Timmons -- whom the ad refers to as "the consummate insider" -- would lead McCain's presidential transition team, an announcer claims that with McCain at the helm, "corporate special interests" will be "rigging the system against hardworking Americans, pushing failed Bush economics."

"Honor" (subscription), meanwhile, goes further than any other Obama ad in striking at McCain's character. It does so with quotes from editorials and op-eds, possibly attempting to shield Obama himself from accusations of being excessively negative. But the ad's message is clear: McCain is running a "disgraceful, dishonorable campaign." The spot opens with video of McCain from his 2000 campaign, pledging not to "take the low road to the highest office in this land," but it claims that he's now "running 'the sleaziest ads ever.'" The announcer concludes that McCain has resorted to "deception" because it is the only strategy "he has left."

The McCain camp responded by calling Obama's latest ad "a desperate effort to move away from talking about his thin, but alarming record on the issues," and said, "It isn’t going to reform Washington or strengthen our economy."

Continue reading "Harsh Words For McCain's Tactics" »

Click here to watch "Brutal."

Since the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund began airing "Brutal" (subscription) on Friday -- a TV spot that skewers VP nominee Sarah Palin for her support of aerial hunting -- donations have been pouring into the environmental advocacy group.

Senior Director Will Lutz said "hundreds of thousands" of dollars in contributions over the weekend will bankroll a wider ad campaign beyond the initial buy in the Toledo and Dayton, Ohio, and Tampa, Fla., markets. The advocacy fund is hoping to start running "Brutal" in Colorado, Michigan and Minnesota -- perhaps as early as today.

The one-minute TV spot juxtaposes Palin's face with clips of marksmen firing at frantic wolves from low-flying airplanes and a wounded wolf writhing in the snow. The ad closes on the image of a lifeless wolf draped onto a plane as the narrator asks, "Do we really want a vice president who champions such savagery?"

For Defenders of Wildlife, an ad campaign was a no-brainer after Palin was tapped for the VP slot.

"Our phones started ringing off the hook -- people panicking with what this woman would do if she were elected," Lutz said. "I think this is an issue that transcends your traditional hard-core conservationists."

Click here to watch "Crisis."

Coinciding with Monday's early-morning announcement that investment firm Lehman Brothers would file for bankruptcy, the McCain camp released its latest ad, "Crisis" (subscription), which contends only "proven reformers John McCain and Sarah Palin can fix" the economy.

The ad makes an explicit reference to the firm about halfway through when an image of the Lehman Brothers headquarters pops up on the screen. An announcer asserts that a McCain-Palin administration would impose "tougher rules on Wall Street to protect your life savings. No special-interest giveaways." The 30-second spot also touches on two mainstay economic topics: creating jobs (by lowering taxes) and lowering gasoline prices (through offshore drilling).

So what's missing from this ad? That would be an attack on McCain's Democratic rival, Barack Obama. In what has become an increasingly bitter battle between the two sides, this ad shows the GOP camp staying on the positive. Nonetheless, when the announcer stresses that "only proven reformers" McCain and Palin can fix the economy, the ad implies that Obama and running mate Joe Biden don't have what it takes.

Click here to watch "Disrespectful."

Between solo and joint ads released today by John McCain and the Republican National Committee, the GOP is covering a lot of ground. Indeed, they had to make up for an ad-free day Thursday, in honor of 9/11 -- though some are questioning whether the McCain camp violated the truce the candidates agreed upon.

An ad the McCain camp released this morning calls out Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., for being "disrespectful" (subscription) to McCain's VP pick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. An announcer asserts that Obama and Biden "lashed out at Sarah Palin" and "dismissed her as 'good-looking.''' FactCheck.org contends, however, that the ad takes the quotes out of context and distorts them.

Also out today is a joint ad from McCain and the RNC, a Spanish-language TV spot running in Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico. "Which Side Are They On?" (subscription) suggest that Obama and his "congressional allies" -- including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., whose images pop up on the screen, sandwiching Obama -- are guilty of pushing "poison pill" legislation that "made immigration reform fail."

Both McCain and the RNC released radio ads today as well. In "Change Or More Of The Same?" (subscription), the RNC claims that Obama has requested a "billion dollars in earmarks" and that Biden has been requesting them "for decades." An announcer also praises McCain for never requesting an earmark and Palin for vetoing wasteful spending and cutting earmark requests "by hundreds of millions of dollars."

McCain's radio ad, "Stem Cell" (subscription), promises that McCain and his own team of "congressional allies" will invest "millions" in stem-cell research, to find cures and relief for conditions such as cancer, heart disease, spinal cord damage and strokes.

Click here to watch "Phillip Butler."

On the heels of John McCain's nomination speech at the Republican National Convention -- where he praised his country and cited his prisoner-of-war and military experience as key elements of his biography as a candidate -- came a hard-hitting ad featuring a fellow POW aiming to put all that into doubt.

Brave New PAC, a left-leaning advocacy group, and Democracy for America, which describes itself as the "nation's largest progressive political action community," are partnering to launch a 30-second spot that will run nationwide on CNN, MSNBC and ESPN beginning Sunday. The ad features POW Phillip Butler voicing his concerns about whether McCain's imprisonment necessarily qualifies him to be president. Butler went to the Naval Academy with McCain and was imprisoned with him in Vietnam. "Hell, I’m 70 years old and I’ve lived through being a prisoner of war, I’m going to tell it like it is," Butler says in the ad. "I think I can say with authority that the prisoner of war experience is not a good prerequisite for a president of the United States."

Continue reading "Fellow POW Casts Doubt On McCain" »

Click here to watch "Still."

After a week in which John McCain's camp has seized the momentum and set the tone in the presidential race, Barack Obama's has announced it is fighting back. Part of that effort is a barrage of new TV ads painting McCain as out of touch and a continuation of disruptive, George Bush-style politics.

"Still" (subscription) juxtaposes images of a disco ball, an antiquated computer and a Rubik's Cube with video of McCain in a pair of large horn-rimmed glasses, suggesting that the GOP nominee is stuck in 1982 -- the year he came to Washington. "Things have changed in the last 26 years. But McCain hasn't," an announcer says, pointing out that the Arizona senator admits to not knowing how to use a computer or e-mail. More to the point, the ad continues, he "still doesn't understand the economy," as demonstrated by his tax policy. As an image of Bush appears, the announcer concludes: "After one president who was out of touch, we just can't afford more of the same."

The Obama camp also put out a TV spot (subscription) attacking McCain's "maverick" image and his record as an opponent of special interests. Opening with footage of McCain claiming that "it’s over for the special interests," the spot points out that "seven of McCain’s top advisers are lobbyists." If this is who's running his campaign, an announcer says, "who do you think will run his White House?"

Continue reading "Obama Shows His Tough Side" »

Click here to watch "Doesn't See."

As the Democratic and Republican parties survey the battleground for the presidential election, the parties' Senate committees are doing the same -- and some of the same states are in focus. Colorado and Minnesota are featured in both National Journal's swing state series and Hotline's race rankings of Senate seats likely to switch party control; Virginia, where both Barack Obama and John McCain campaigned this week, is Hotline's No. 1.

Energy and the economy, mainstays of the presidential battle, are hot topics in several Senate races. Another similarity between the presidential and senatorial battles is the negative tone -- the vast majority of both Senate committees' ads have gone on the attack.

Continue reading "Senate Committees Join The Party" »

Click here to watch "Sexual Abuse."

Planned Parenthood unveiled an ad today in response to John McCain's "Education," released Tuesday, which claims that Barack Obama supports "comprehensive sex education" for kindergartners.

"Sexual Abuse" (subscription) is running in the same markets -- Pittsburgh and Denver -- where "Education" is reportedly running. The 30-second spot argues that McCain is "twisting the facts and attacking Senator Obama" for supporting a bill that both Planned Parenthood and the Obama campaign say is aimed at curbing sexual abuse. "Doesn't McCain want our children to protect themselves from sex offenders?" the announcer asks. The spot also cites a Washington Post article from Thursday that disputed many of the claims made in "Education."

Planned Parenthood spokesman Tait Sye said the organization hopes to both "set the record straight" on McCain's "misleading" ad and tell voters that "McCain will say anything to get elected." The group sent a letter to McCain's camp Thursday asking him to pull the ad because of factual errors. Receiving no response, the group ran its own ad, Sye said.

When asked about how the dynamics of the election have changed since the entry of Sarah Palin, Sye brushed off her influence. "The vast majority of Americans don't share her positions," including her staunch opposition to abortion even in cases of rape and incest, Sye said. Despite polls showing key voter blocs, especially white women, trending toward the GOP after the conventions, he said that Americans simply need to become more informed about Palin. The "McCain-Palin ticket is out of touch with issues that are important to women," he said.

This is the group's second ad of the presidential campaign. Its previous spot was also in direct response to the McCain campaign: "Out Of Touch," released in mid-July, rebuked McCain for awkwardly answering a reporter's question on insurance companies covering Viagra but not birth control.

Click here to view "Had Enough."

The American Future Fund, a conservative free-market advocacy group, began airing a TV spot (subscription) Wednesday encouraging viewers to lobby Congress to pass the Gas Price Reduction Act of 2008 and open parts of the continental shelf for offshore drilling. The ad strings together six claims about the country's untapped energy reserves, including contrasting Cuba's offshore exploration efforts with the American ban on such drilling. It closes by contrasting 45-cents-a-gallon gasoline in Saudi Arabia with fuel prices in the U.S., citing a Wall Street Journal article (subscription) that warns about the possibility of $6 gasoline.

The American Future Fund has run a number of television and radio spots since late summer excoriating Democrats for not getting behind legislation to permit offshore exploration and oil shale extraction from federal lands. But while those ads were run primarily in oil shale-rich Colorado and in Nevada, the home of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D), "Had Enough?" is running nationwide on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC.

"As Congress comes back into session, we thought it was a good opportunity to educate people on energy, knowing that Congress took a five-week recess instead of dealing with these tough issues," said Tim Albrecht, national communications director for the American Future Fund.

A number of the ad's "facts" are open to interpretation, however. The claim that "the U.S. actually has more oil resources than Saudi Arabia" is supported only by a quote in a Washington Post story from President Bush. And even that claim depends on the ability of Big Oil to find a safe, cost-effective way of turning oil shale into fuel for consumers, a challenge that even the petroleum industry says will be a tall order.

More puzzling is the ad's reference to gasoline prices in Saudi Arabia, prices that are kept artificially low by government subsidies.

"It’s quite a contrast between these foreign countries overseas getting rich off the American dollar while they are paying a fraction of what we are," Albrecht said.

So should the U.S. government subsidize gas prices in America?

"No," he said. "We're free-market capitalists here."

A McCain campaign Web video accusing Barack Obama of sexist "smears" against Sarah Palin has been pulled from YouTube at the request of CBS, but not before racking up countless views online and on cable news throughout Wednesday. CBS asked that the ad be removed because it included footage from an online commentary by Katie Couric about sexism in the presidential race. In the McCain video, she appears to be accusing Obama of sexism; in fact, she was talking about coverage of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s candidacy in June.

A spokesman for YouTube was unable to say exactly how many times the video had been watched online because the company does not keep track of statistics for videos that have been pulled from their site.

As Congress is poised to consider legislation addressing the high price of fuel, a coalition of financial trade associations has launched a campaign to counter calls for tougher regulation on "energy speculators" and to urge lawmakers to embrace solutions that are friendly to energy markets.

The newly minted Smart Energy Policy Coalition this week unveiled its Web site, SmartEnergyUSA.org, and placed print advertisements in D.C.-area publications. The first ad [PDF], "20 Reasons," warns Congress against "overly restrictive rules" that could impede global markets, detailing what the coalition sees as the real causes behind the high prices, including the weak U.S. dollar and a low level of investment in alternative energies.

Also in the energy arena, the St. Petersburg Times takes note of the American Petroleum Institute's months-long, multimillion-dollar ad campaign aimed at convincing Congress to end the moratorium on offshore drilling -- the effectiveness of which will be tested when lawmakers consider the issue in the coming weeks.

In other advertising news:

Continue reading "Outside The Spotlight: Selling The Next Energy Plan" »

Click here to watch "Fact Check."

Between the political bickering over pigs and lipstick, John McCain's campaign released another ad today, "Fact Check" (subscription), which accuses Barack Obama of attempting to smear Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

The ad draws upon a Wall Street Journal op-ed that says the Obama campaign has "airdropped a mini-army of 30 lawyers, investigators and opposition researchers into" Alaska to "dig into her record and background." The female announcer goes on to charge that "as Obama drops in the polls, he'll try to destroy her."

So, who's the newest cosmetic and/or animal to join the presidential election? Wolves. In a throwback to a George W. Bush ad from 2004, a full five seconds of the 30-second spot is devoted solely to footage of wolves -- representing Obama's "mini-army" -- roaming a forest, in, presumably, Alaska's wilderness.

Click here to watch "Education."

Responding to a Barack Obama TV ad (subscription), John McCain's campaign took to the airwaves Tuesday evening to push back on the issue of education and turn the tables on the Illinois senator. Their response ad, however, has drawn an impassioned rebuke from Obama.

"Education" (subscription) does little to respond to the Obama campaign's claims about McCain's record on the subject, but rather takes a dig at the Illinois senator by citing an article in Education Week that says Obama "hasn't made a significant mark on education." The spot then goes further, suggesting that "Obama's one accomplishment" on education legislation was to pass a bill in Illinois that approved teaching ''comprehensive sex education ... to kindergartners." "Learning about sex before learning to read?" an announcer wonders, concluding that Obama is "wrong on education. Wrong for your family."

The ad prompted one of the most pointed rebuttals yet from the Obama camp. Spokesman Bill Burton called it "shameful and downright perverse for the McCain campaign to use a bill that was written to protect young children from sexual predators as a recycled and discredited political attack against a father of two young girls." He added: "Last week, John McCain told Time magazine he couldn't define what honor was. Now we know why."

Another spat broke out between the rival camps yesterday over a particular women's cosmetic product. On the trail in Virginia, Obama was mocking the notion that McCain and vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin represent change agents, when he told a crowd: "You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig." The phrase -- an idiom which McCain himself has used in reference to Hillary Rodham Clinton's health care plan -- is a relatively common analogy, but it evoked a line that Palin used while accepting her party's nomination in Minnesota, when she told the audience that the only "difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull" is "lipstick."

The McCain campaign pounced on Obama's comments, releasing a Web ad this morning. The spot shows a clip of CBS anchor Katie Couric lamenting "the continued and accepted role of sexism in American life" and accuses Obama of using a sexist smear against Palin.

In remarks this morning, Obama dismissed the controversy as an example of "phony outrage and Swift boat politics." Yesterday, Obama adviser Anita Dunn called ad a "pathetic attempt to play the gender card" and charged: "This phony lecture on gender sensitivity is the height of cynicism and lays bare the increasingly dishonorable campaign John McCain has chosen to run."

Click here to watch "No Maverick."

With the John McCain-Sarah Palin ticket enjoying a post-convention bounce, Barack Obama is grappling with the question of how to take on the Republican duo. His campaign was quick to respond to McCain's "Original Mavericks" ad Monday, immediately releasing a spot of its own challenging his opponents' claims that they represent a break from their party.

"No Maverick" (subscription) hits directly and forcefully at both McCain and Palin. The Arizona senator is "hardly a maverick," the announcer says, when he has supported President Bush 90 percent of the time and his campaign team includes several Washington lobbyists. The ad goes on to cite the Anchorage Daily News to argue that, contrary to Palin's claims, she "was for the bridge to nowhere before she was against it" -- a point that the Wall Street Journal corroborates today. The announcer suggests that both McCain and Palin are guilty of "lying about their records" and thus merely represent "more of the same" old-style politics.

In a spot released today, however, Obama ignores Palin, choosing instead to focus on the top of the GOP ticket. "What Kind" (subscription) knocks McCain's record on education and accuses him of putting special interests ahead of children. Advancing the notion that McCain is out of touch with voters, the announcer tells viewers that "Obama understands what it takes" to maintain a strong economy -- good education -- while McCain, on the other hand, has gone so far as to propose "abolishing the Department of Education." As Bush materializes on screen next to McCain, the announcer concludes with the now-familiar Obama mantra: "We can't afford more of the same."

Maine Senate (tip sheet)

• Mainers discuss how gasoline prices are affecting business, and Rep. Tom Allen (D) presents his energy plan in "Must."

• "Diabetes" credits Republican incumbent Susan Collins with increased funding for diabetes research.

New Hampshire Senate (tip sheet)

• In the first ad of his re-election bid, Sen. John Sununu (R) asserts he is "quicker" than his opponents, and, despite being the youngest senator in Congress, is the best candidate for the state.

• Former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen charges in "Dig" that Sununu is simply continuing President Bush's policies.

New Mexico Senate (tip sheet)

• Rep. Tom Udall (D) calls for action on the energy crisis in "Stop Talking."

North Carolina Senate (tip sheet)

• In "Firepower, Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R) aims to refute attack ads from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee calling her an ineffective senator, and in "Arf," the Dole camp labels opponent Kay Hagan (D) as "Fibber Kay."

Missouri Governor (tip sheet)

• State Attorney General Jay Nixon (D) attacks Rep. Kenny Hulshof (R) over the economy in "Jobs" and "Border States."

Click here to watch "Original Mavericks."

Fresh off the Republican convention last week and a post-convention bounce in the polls -- either breaking even or pulling ahead of Democratic rival Barack Obama -- John McCain's camp released an ad this morning touting the reform credentials of both McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

"Original Mavericks" (subscription) highlights media reports that praise McCain and Palin for going against their party. "He fights pork barrel spending," an announcer says, with a 2007 San Jose Mercury-News headline, "McCain Faults Bush For Pork Barrel Spending," rolling across the screen. "She stopped the Bridge to Nowhere," the announcer continues, accompanied by a 2007 Anchorage Daily News headline -- "Palin Flies High As Reformer."

While McCain's campaign has sought to paint the GOP nominee as a "maverick" for quite some time now, this ad extends that label to the relatively obscure Palin. Since the Republican's VP announcement Aug. 29, the relationship between the media and Palin has been rocky, and voters still seem relatively uninformed about her. This ad, then, also doubles as a biographical spot of Palin, echoing the same message as last week's "Alaska Maverick" -- although that ad made some jabs at Obama for his "empty," "liberal" record in Congress, while the newer one remains positive.

Click here to watch "More."

While most lawmakers, insiders and journalists have been focused on Colorado and Minnesota the last two weeks, it won’t be long until other key states are back in the spotlight. With two short months to go before the election, the Democratic and Republican national committees are targeting Michigan in new ads dealing with the sour economy. One version of the RNC spot (released jointly with the McCain camp) is also running in Ohio.

In "More," the DNC keeps up its "McSame" attack strategy, claiming both John McCain and an unpopular President Bush are not in tune with average Americans' struggles. The spot plays video of both men saying that the fundamentals of the economy are strong while media reports and statistics documenting Michigan's woes flash across the screen. "Michigan is struggling, but some people don't seem to notice," the announcer says.

The McCain/RNC ad, "Recovery," berates not only Barack Obama but also his congressional teammates for opposing offshore drilling. The spot is running in both Ohio and Michigan, with different media reports cited but essentially the same message. The ad opens with gloomy reports of lost jobs and closed factories, then laments: "Incredibly, Barack Obama and out-of-touch congressional leaders still oppose offshore drilling. So, higher gas prices, more foreign oil, fewer jobs, no drilling, no Ohio [Michigan] recovery."

Continue reading "From Colorado To Minnesota To Michigan" »

Click here to watch "Alaska Maverick."

Both presidential nominees released ads Wednesday drawing attention to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, albeit in different ways. John McCain gives props to his running mate in "Alaska Maverick." And a new radio ad from Barack Obama chastises McCain for opposing abortion rights, a topic that has taken on new currency lately -- first when McCain alarmed his base with a remark that he wouldn't rule out an abortion rights supporter as his running mate, and now with McCain’s addition of Palin, a staunch abortion opponent.

McCain's spot heralds Palin's reformer reputation by highlighting media reports from the Wall Street Journal (which dubbed the duo "A Reform Ticket") and her home state's Anchorage Daily News (calling Palin the "Joan of Arc of Alaska politics"), among others. The ad contrasts that with coverage of Obama that suggests he'll always vote along party lines. From the January National Journal survey that ranked him the most liberal senator to a series of Senate votes benefiting Big Oil, the McCain camp reiterates that his change reputation is nothing but "empty words." It’s worth noting, however, that all the headlines applauding Palin are dated after the Aug. 29 VP announcement, suggesting that before she was thrust into the national spotlight, the national media didn’t see compelling reason to highlight her or her "reformer" reputation.

Obama's radio ad features a Planned Parenthood nurse urging women not to vote for McCain because he supports overturning Roe v. Wade. "John McCain's out of touch with women today. McCain wants to take away our right to choose," the nurse says. "That's what women need to understand. That's how high the stakes are." The spot replays a clip of McCain confirming that he supports a constitutional amendment banning all abortions.

The Obama camp said the ad was released before McCain announced his pick. Nonetheless, with Hillary Rodham Clinton’s supporters potentially in play and with Palin receiving attention as the first woman on a presidential ticket since Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, abortion is making a comeback as a hot-button political topic.

Click here to watch "Expensive Plans."

It didn't take the presidential campaigns long to put the bipartisan unity engendered by Hurricane Gustav behind them.

The Republicans today are aiming to resume their regular convention schedule, albeit in a shifted format. That means fair game and open season: Last week, John McCain aired a fresh ad every day of the Democrats’ convention, and on Saturday, Barack Obama returned fire with three new ones.

"Expensive Plans," an ad released jointly by McCain's camp and the Republican National Committee, opens with the staple celebrity reference and links Obama to "out-of-touch congressional leaders" who have "expensive plans." Images of big-name Senate Democrats like Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nev., Charles Schumer, N.Y., and Christopher Dodd, Conn., flash across the screen. "Billions in new government spending. Years of deficits. No balanced budgets. And painful tax increases on working American families," the announcer says. "They’re ready to tax, ready to spend, but not ready to lead."

Continue reading "Camps Get Back To Business With Dueling Ads" »

Click here to watch "See Saw."

A labor advocacy group will begin airing $5 million worth of ads today -- Labor Day -- on national cable and in targeted states to press for legislation that would allow workers to organize without secret ballot elections, the Associated Press reported.

The ads, sponsored by American Rights at Work, do not name either presidential candidate, but the message of economic hardship dovetails with Democratic nominee Barack Obama’s campaign themes.

The national ads will appear on CNN and MSNBC. Localized versions will also appear in states with vulnerable Republican senators: Alaska, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Oregon. These ads, expected to air at least four weeks, urge viewers to call the senators to demand their support for the Employee Free Choice Act. They show a well-dressed, heavy-set executive seesawing with a worker and losing his advantage as more workers outweigh him.

Under current labor law, a company can demand a secret ballot election supervised by the federal government after being presented the union cards. The Employee Free Choice Act, a top priority for organized labor, would require employers to recognize unions after being presented union cards signed by a majority of eligible workers on their payrolls.

The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, a group backed by business groups and conservative organizations, has been campaigning against the legislation with its own ads in key states.

The Senate last year blocked an effort to pass the legislation; the House approved it in March 2007.

-- Convention Nightly staff

Click here to watch "Thanks For The Memories!"

A left-leaning advocacy group released an ad today in almost 400,000 hotel rooms across the country, including 5,000 in the Twin Cities area, tweaking conservatives for what the group contends has been eight years of "failure" -- most notably Republicans’ response to Hurricane Katrina.

Although the sarcastic "Thanks For The Memories!" is running nationwide, the target audience is primarily the attendees and participants of the GOP national convention. The ad opens with the text, "To the conservatives gathered in St. Paul: Thanks for the memories!" It uses the song lyrics and dismal images -- including a flood-stricken New Orleans -- to "thank" the Republicans for the economy's downward spiral. "Thanks for the memories... of sentimental verse... nothing in my purse..." the female vocalist sings as a gasoline pump and a foreclosure sign come up on the screen. The 30-second spot concludes with another Katrina reference: "You've done a heckuva job!" but "We'll take it from here."

Toby Chaudhuri, communications director for the group, said bringing the images of Hurricane Katrina front and center -- it is the first image in the ad -- was an obvious decision in light of Hurricane Gustav's impact on this year’s convention. The storm "has helped the made-for-TV show, giving the failed president and vice president a reason to stay out of town," Chaudhuri said. "Ten incumbent Republican senators already had decided that absence was the better part of valor.”

Chaudhuri doesn't have much faith in the GOP and has every intention of letting the conventioneers know that: "We're going straight into the lion’s den to remind delegates about the last eight years of failures. It will be difficult to salvage the Republican Party. Even Gustav is more of a haunted reminder of the bungled response to Katrina than a do-over."

The group bought airtime with a cable carrier that's exclusive to hotels, known as the Hotel Networks. It was an effective way to target Republicans visiting the Twin Cities, Chaudhuri said.