Click here to watch "A Better Way."

For weeks now, Oregon voters have been the target of campaign events and political advertisements from both Democratic candidates. In an effort to remind Oregonians that there's another candidate in the race, John McCain will today reach out to the Beaver State with his first TV spot there.

"A Better Way" (subscription) spotlights McCain's determination to alleviate global warming without expansive government programs. Framing climate change as "a national security issue," McCain urges a third way between those who think "high taxes and crippling regulation is the solution" and another side that "denies the problem even exists." Throughout, the ad features images of rising gas prices and natural disasters to underline the urgency of the issue and our "obligation to future generations to take action and fix it," as McCain says.

The McCain camp has so far made a concerted effort to amplify the message of his issue-oriented campaign tours with ads on health care and the economy. "A Better Way" comes as McCain embarks on a campaign swing intended to promote his commitment to the environment and, in the process, further separate himself from the policies of the Bush administration. The spot is an implicit reaction to ads from Democrats and third-party groups that have tried to chip away at McCain's image and portray him as little better than President Bush on the environment.

McCain's advisers have indicated that they hope to put Oregon into play in the general election. By investing in airtime now, he not only competes with ads currently airing from Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, he also attempts to build post-partisan credibility while explicitly assuaging the concerns of conservatives opposed to the "high taxes and crippling regulation" his ad warns against.

Click here to watch "Johnny's Mom."

The winter holiday season brought with it a wave of questionable holiday-themed campaign spots (subscription), and now at least one candidate is doing the same for Mother's Day. John McCain's camp announced today it would run a new spot this Sunday featuring the candidate's mother, Roberta, reminiscing about his birth and upbringing.

Over an unusually cheery soundtrack for a political advertisement, Roberta trades playful banter with her son and says "he'll make a wonderful president." By spotlighting McCain's 96-year-old mother, the campaign hopes to appeal to female voters, who polls show currently favor Barack Obama, while also reminding viewers concerned about his age that his mother is still sharp as she nears her centennial. The buy will be limited to cable channels that cater primarily to female audiences, such as Lifetime, Oxygen and the Hallmark Channel.

In a larger sense, the ad is of a piece with the campaign's strategy of using earned media to blunt the Democrats' fundraising advantage. Assuming the cutesy spot gets picked up on the Internet and cable news channels, the campaign could greatly amplify the reach of what is really a limited buy on a handful of niche channels.

Click here to watch "Health Solutions."

While his two Democratic opponents have talked mostly about the struggling economy in their recent paid media, John McCain continues to focus on health care, releasing his second ad on the subject in a week.

"Health Solutions," which debuted across Ohio on Friday, ticks off McCain's health proposals, from allowing importation of prescription drugs to ending "junk lawsuits that tax consumers." Like his previous spot on the subject, "Health Solutions" is heavy on specific policy plans -- a departure from McCain's earlier biographical ads.

The ad opens boldly with the words "President McCain" appearing onscreen with a slow-motion shot of the Arizona senator striding confidently, segueing into an announcer listing McCain's "bold solutions" over a jittery, futuristic-looking background. By playing up his health care plans with phrases like "bold solutions" and "straight talk," the ad injects some energy into what could be a dry laundry list of wonky details.

Continue reading "McCain Tries To Liven Up Health Care Debate" »

Click here to watch "Candles."

At least John McCain knows what he'll be up against in the general election. With the Democratic candidates otherwise occupied and six months to go before the presidential vote, there are already two ads on the air that use McCain's "100 years" remarks on Iraq to paint him as a standard-bearer for President Bush's policies.

MoveOn.org today announced the launch of "Candles," which uses the image of a birthday cake with a century's worth of burning candles to characterize McCain's plan for Iraq as dangerously open-ended. "One hundred years in Iraq?" an announcer says. "And you thought no one could be worse than George Bush." "Candles" joins a similar spot put out earlier this week by the Democratic National Committee.

MoveOn is running the ad on nationwide cable, as well as in New Mexico and Iowa -- two likely swing states where McCain has already begun airing general election ads. Republicans have protested that Democrats and outside groups are taking McCain's remarks out of context, but they may have to get used to it. The fact that two ads are already deploying the "100 years" charge against him suggests the soundbite -- as well as the picture of McCain embracing Bush that closes MoveOn's ad -- will only continue to haunt the Arizona senator in the coming months.

Click here to watch "100."

The furor over a Democratic National Committee ad that uses footage of John McCain's "100 years in Iraq" comment has only grown since the spot hit national cable stations on Monday. Before the ad was even on the air, the Republican National Committee released a statement castigating the ad's claims as "distortions and smears," and the GOP has only stepped up the pressure in the following days.

In "100," the DNC condenses McCain's answer from a January town hall event in which he compared a long-term presence in Iraq to U.S. policies in South Korea. "Bush has talked about our staying in Iraq for 50 years," begins a questioner in the audience. "Maybe 100," McCain responds. "That'd be fine by me." The spot then shows scenes of chaos in Iraq, suggesting that McCain was referring to 100 more years of war rather than a peaceful U.S. presence. "If all he offers is more of the same, is John McCain the right choice for America's future?" an announcer asks as the ad concludes.

On Monday, RNC Chairman Mike Duncan called on TV stations not to air "100" and accused national Democrats of illegally coordinating their advertising with the party's presidential candidates. Continuing the tit for tat, DNC Chairman Howard Dean defended the ad in a conference call with reporters yesterday, calling McCain "completely out of touch" on the war.

The RNC isn't the only group leveling accusations of illegal coordination between candidates and outside parties. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee filed a petition with the IRS today challenging the nonprofit status of conservative advocacy group Freedom's Watch, which is running attack ads in the ongoing La.-06 special election.

Click here to watch "Feeling The Pain."

Just hours after John McCain released an advertisement touting his proposals for improving health care, the Service Employees International Union put out its own spot criticizing his approach. Both ads were timed to coincide with McCain's address on health care today.

The union, which has endorsed Barack Obama, is airing "Feeling The Pain" statewide across Ohio as well as in D.C. In the ad, Ohio health care workers say they doubt McCain will curb rising expenses. "John McCain says he'll lower health care costs, but when it comes to making health care affordable here in Ohio, we'll still be feeling the pain," a succession of women in scrubs remark.

Besides criticizing McCain for, among other things, opposing the State Children's Health Insurance Program, "Feeling The Pain" uses file footage of a campaign rally to link McCain to President Bush. Twice, viewers see a black-and-white clip of Bush hugging McCain and kissing him on the head as an announcer lists the times the presumptive Republican nominee has supported Bush's health care policies.

Continue reading "A Kiss-Off For McCain's Health Care Plan" »

Click here to watch "Health Care Action."

Iowans still recovering from the frenzy of the presidential caucuses might be surprised to turn on their TVs this week and find the race has already returned.

John McCain's campaign today announced it would begin running a 60-second spot in the Hawkeye State focusing on McCain's health care plan. In "Health Care Action," a sedate McCain proposes solutions to help Americans pay for the rising cost of health care, including a $5,000 tax credit for every family. "There's many, many solutions to this problem," he says. "I think we can address them."

The spot complements McCain's focus on health care this week, echoing his campaign's message of the moment just as his last ad on the economy immediately followed a key address on the economy and his series of bio spots appeared during his biographical publicity tour.

Iowa might not be the most obvious place to run a general election ad, but McCain's advisers have said they're not planning to run a traditional presidential campaign. By airing the spot in Iowa's inexpensive TV markets, the Arizona senator could pick up some discounted national media coverage if cable news networks pick up the story. And by targeting voters in a possible swing state, McCain is establishing himself early in what could be an expanded field of purple states, while also making amends for largely skipping the caucuses there.

Click here to watch "Better Off?"

More outside help arrived for the Democratic presidential candidates today as another group -- this time the Democratic National Committee -- stepped in to challenge John McCain on the airwaves while Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton play out their slow-motion primary showdown. The new spot is the fourth in the past week and a half to target McCain, joining earlier buys from the Ohio Democratic Party and two advocacy groups.

The DNC's first ad (subscription) of the election, which begins airing today on national cable networks, uses footage of McCain from a Jan. 30 Republican debate to suggest he's out of touch with the economic anxieties of ordinary Americans. Contrasting McCain's comment that "Americans overall are better off" than they were eight years ago with grim statistics on inflation and gas prices, the ad concludes with an announcer asking viewers, "Do you feel better off?"

Days before the ad hit the airwaves, it was already under attack from Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan, who issued a statement on Sunday saying the spot "recklessly distorts John McCain's statements." But while the ad selectively edits McCain's answer, leaving out his acknowledgment that "things are tough right now," that hardly makes it atypical in the world of modern political advertising. As AP noted on Monday, "This type of selective quoting has become commonplace."

Click here to listen to "More Of The Same."

Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton aren't the only ones facing negative advertising this week; tomorrow, the Ohio Democratic Party will greet John McCain with a new radio ad airing in the Youngstown area, where the Arizona senator will be arriving to continue his tour of the "forgotten places in America."

"More Of The Same," which ODP calls its first of the general election, challenges McCain on the very issue he'll be promoting in Ohio: the economy. "After months of ignoring Americans' worries about the economy, John McCain is trying to make up for his mistake by making lots of big promises," an announcer says, going on to accuse McCain of opposing overtime pay and promoting policies that would result in "more homes foreclosed on, more American jobs shipped overseas."

Besides attacking McCain on a sensitive topic, the ad chips away at his image as a political "maverick," calling attention to his "25 years in Washington" and tying him to the policies of the current president. "The more you learn, the more you see he's just more of the same," an announcer charges. That line echoes ongoing efforts at the national level by Democrats and outside groups to tie McCain to President Bush, particularly on economics.

Given the contours of the last two presidential elections and the fact that the Youngstown media market borders Pennsylvania, another likely swing state, it seems a safe bet that this buy is only the first of many that will bombard local listeners this general election season.

Click here to watch "Trillions More" and "Out Of Touch."

The prolonged Democratic race has given John McCain relative freedom to lay the groundwork for his general election campaign while his opponents are busy bloodying one another. For his media team, that has meant pre-emptively defining his candidacy through a series of ads depicting McCain as a politically independent war hero.

But while the Democratic candidates are too distracted to knock back a rising McCain, several liberal advocacy organizations have begun stepping into the void.

Continue reading "No Free Ride For McCain" »

Click here to watch "Ignite."

Coinciding with John McCain's heavily promoted economic speech yesterday, his campaign released a new television ad in Ohio and Pennsylvania. "Ignite" (subscription) distills McCain's economic proposals into a series of vague but uplifting slogans: "Taxes: simpler, fairer. Energy: cleaner, cheaper. Health care: portable and affordable."

In addition to buttressing McCain's economic credentials, the ad's presentation seems designed to remind viewers of McCain's "maverick" image by using high-energy production and post-partisan rhetoric that sounds as if it could have come from a Barack Obama speech. "McCain will take the best ideas from both parties," the ad says, promising "initiatives that will unite us" and "big ideas for serious problems."

"Ignite" is McCain's first paid media since the bio ad (subscription) he ran in New Mexico last month, but his campaign has proven adept at finding other ways to place him on television, including a savvy use of Web ads and publicity events. His advisers may have decided that wasn't enough in Pennsylvania and Ohio, however, where dozens of Democratic political ads have saturated the airwaves, giving McCain's eventual general election opponent a head start at reaching voters in those key swing states.

Last week, John McCain released more ads than both of his well-funded Democratic rivals combined -- on the Internet, at least.

To complement his biographical campaign tour, which began last Monday, the Arizona senator released a new Web-only video almost daily in an effort to set the tone for that day's news coverage, frame his scheduled events and speeches and pick up earned media by getting free replay on cable news. More broadly, the tour and Web campaign are part a larger effort to define McCain's candidacy while his opponents remain stalemated for the Democratic nomination and third-party attack groups find themselves temporarily starved for cash.

Continue reading "Who's Watching McCain's Bio Ads?" »

Click here to watch "Ready."

Call it the Swift Boat reflex. As an indication of the speed at which presidential contenders now feel compelled to respond to attacks, consider that it took less than six hours for John McCain to release a Web ad rebutting Hillary Rodham Clinton's latest TV spot in Pennsylvania, which portrays him as an unfit steward of the national economy.

Using the same footage as Clinton's ad -- with a shot of a steely-eyed McCain tacked on to the end -- "Ready" opens with the now-familiar line, "It's 3 a.m., and your children are safe and asleep." It then goes on to blast both Clinton and Barack Obama for their economic proposals, saying "they'd solve the problem by raising your taxes. More money out of your pocket. John McCain has a better plan: Grow jobs. Grow our economy, not grow Washington."

Continue reading "McCain Returns Clinton's Call" »

Click here to watch "624787."

After two weeks spent visiting the Middle East and attempting to narrow the fundraising lead of his Democratic rivals, John McCain returns to the trail in earnest today with what his campaign is billing as a biographical tour showcasing his service to the country. And as part of its efforts to focus attention on McCain's résumé, his campaign also released the first general election ad of the campaign season, a biographical spot calling him "the American president Americans have been waiting for."

The new TV spot  (subscription), which debuted in New Mexico on Friday, features shots of the Arizona senator striking determined poses as a voice-over by actor Powers Boothe introduces him as a candidate who believes "that liberty is priceless" and has "walked the walk." Like previous McCain ads  (subscription), this one makes use of footage of a young McCain being questioned by his North Vietnamese captors to remind viewers of his time as a prisoner of war.

As the first media buy from the Republican nominee-to-be in nearly two months, the ad sheds light on McCain's strategy for the general election and, more specifically, how his camp plans to capitalize on the ongoing Democratic stalemate. Between the ad and his biography-focused campaign swing, McCain is setting out to define himself (as an experienced, patriotic war hero) before his opponent has the chance to. With McCain's political celebrity -- particularly in the Southwest -- there isn't really another reason for him to invest in a traditional bio spot.

Continue reading "McCain's General Election Debut" »