Click here to watch "One Nation Left Behind."

In a three-pronged attack on America's "subpar" education system, an advocacy campaign called Strong American Schools -- initiated by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation -- intends to thrust education into the limelight of this year's presidential election. Strong American Schools' new ad campaign, "One Nation Left Behind," includes TV, radio and print ads in seven states, citing statistics that suggest American students are lagging far behind their counterparts in most other industrialized nations.

"The countries with the best schools attract the best jobs," actress Jamie Lee Curtis says in the TV spot (subscription). "And if jobs move to countries like Finland and South Korea, our children's opportunities dry up. And so does our economy."

Continue reading "Electing Better Education" »

Click here to listen to "Makin' Stuff Up."

In what is beginning to look like a pattern, Barack Obama is again shooting back at John McCain and the GOP after the Republican National Committee released what the Obama camp considers a false ad.

An RNC radio spot, which features the voice of a teacher, alleges that Obama voted to raise taxes on Americans making "as little as $32,000" and is "acting like a typical politician" by "saying one thing and doing another."

In a sharp response, Obama released his own radio ad Friday in two important swing states -- Virginia and Ohio. In "Makin' Stuff Up" (subscription), a man and a woman accuse McCain of using the George Bush/Karl Rove playbook to fight dirty. "This is shameful. He's just makin' stuff up," the man charges, before pointing to independent Web site FactCheck.org, which has disputed the RNC's claims about Obama's tax policies. In reality, the man contends, "Obama's plan cuts taxes on the middle class and won't raise taxes on anybody making less than $250,000 a year."

McCain, on the other hand, "wants billions in new corporate tax breaks" but has "no way to pay for it," according to the Obama spot. "Sounds like George Bush all over again," the woman muses, while the man adds: "Guess that's why they say: John McCain -- McSame as Bush."

The spot continues what has been Obama's main strategy (subscription) for contrasting himself with McCain: link the Arizona senator to the Bush White House and its increasingly unpopular policies.

Click here to watch "Indian Gaming."

For Seattle basketball fans, things are even gloomier than usual in the rainy Northwest -- the SuperSonics are picking up and leaving for Oklahoma City. While voters may not list sports as a high-priority issue in this year's governor's race between incumbent Christine Gregoire (D) and return challenger Dino Rossi (R), it evidently is for the pro-Rossi group It's Time For A Change.

In one of its latest attacks against Gregoire, the Olympia-based group released a radio spot (subscription) last week blaming her for the team’s departure. It opens with sounds of a large crowd. "Listen up, Sonics fans, the 2009 season’s almost here," a sports announcer says. "This talented young team will be a force for years to come and can only be seen right here in… Oklahoma City." The spot's sarcastic opening gives way to a narrator explaining how, rather than working with investors to ensure the team stayed in Seattle, the governor did nothing and let it go. "Gregoire sat at the end of the bench and accepted defeat. Now the clock has run out and the real losers are you, the fans," the narrator says.

Continue reading "Rossi Backers Crash The Boards" »

Click here to watch "Not Now."

Some veterans, at least, are none too pleased with John McCain right now. New TV and radio ads up this week scrutinize the Arizona senator on his congressional voting record relating to veterans legislation, specifically on health care.

The AFL-CIO's new veterans council is releasing a TV ad (subscription) Thursday that features Navy veteran Jim Wasser, who served with John Kerry in Vietnam and took part in a similar direct-mail campaign (subscription) for the labor organization this spring. "Every vet respects John McCain’s war record," Wasser says in the 30-second spot, hearkening back to retired Gen. Wesley Clark’s recent comments. "It’s his record in the Senate that I have a problem with. He wants us to continue spending $10 billion a month in Iraq just like Bush."

Continue reading "Vetting McCain" »

Click here to listen to "Do The Right Thing."

Republican senators are feeling the heat (subscription) from medical professionals for allowing a pay cut for doctors serving Medicare patients to go through in late June. The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act, which passed overwhelmingly in the House, would have prevented a 10.6 percent cut, but the measure fell one vote short of Senate approval.

The Bush administration granted a temporary reprieve, giving Congress one more crack at the bill; a vote was expected this afternoon. In advance of that vote, the progressive group Americans United For Change is targeting two Republican senators (both up for re-election) for their votes against the bill. The group launched radio ads in Kentucky (subscription) and Mississippi, calling on Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Roger Wicker, respectively, to "do the right thing" and vote yes today.

Continue reading "Senate Showdown Over Medicare" »

Click here to listen to "Our Values."

John McCain may be far behind Barack Obama in his quest for the Hispanic vote, but at least one Latino is showing strong support for the GOP nominee. In the Spanish-language radio ad "Our Values" (subscription), released today, McCain's roommate from the U.S. Naval Academy, Frank Gamboa, shows some love for his former bunk buddy.

The ad, running in New Mexico and Nevada, stresses that McCain shares Latinos' "conservative values and faith in God," as Gamboa says in Spanish. "He knows that family is the focal part of our lives and that we value hard work."

Gamboa also doesn't shy away from making a not-so-subtle jab at Obama. "This election, it seems to me that the other candidate has just discovered the importance of the Hispanic vote. So when it comes to our values and understanding Latinos this election, I know for John it's not political; it comes from the heart," Gamboa concludes.

This ad buy comes on the heels of another Spanish-language ad McCain's campaign released Wednesday in Florida touting the Arizona senator's support for the free-trade pact proposed between Colombia and the U.S. McCain clearly sees the Southwest as a prime place to target Latino voters, as evident in an earlier Spanish-language ad addressing economic issues (subscription) he released in the region in early June.

Click here to listen to "From His Heart."

Barack Obama has done more than any recent Democratic presidential candidate to reach out to religious voters, just this week announcing that, as president, he would expand faith-based initiatives and actively encourage religious groups to get more involved in social campaigns. And yet Obama is facing an onslaught of viral attacks questioning his Christian values and accusing him of being a Muslim.

A new Christian political action committee, the Matthew 25 Network, took up Obama's cause with a radio ad released in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Wednesday. Obama was in town that day to discuss patriotism and service to country, but the city is also an evangelical hub, home to Focus on the Family leader James Dobson, a conservative evangelical who has forcefully criticized Obama in recent weeks.

Matthew 25, led by John Kerry's director of religious outreach, Mara Vanderslice, announced in June that it intended to reach out to particular religious communities that it believes Obama must do well with to win in November, including Catholics, moderate evangelicals, Hispanic Catholics and Protestants. This is the group's first ad buy.

Continue reading "Courting Christians" »

Click here to listen to "Colombia Trade."

Capitalizing on his trip to Latin America this week, John McCain released a Spanish-language radio ad on Wednesday touting his support for a proposed free trade agreement between Colombia and the United States.

"Colombia Trade" (subscription), which is running on Spanish-language stations in Florida, features Tony Villamil, the state's former director of Tourism, Commerce and Economic Affairs, praising the Arizona senator for his support of the Colombian Free Trade Agreement.

"Colombia is Florida's third most important export market, and this trade agreement would create almost 5,000 new jobs," Villamil says in the ad. "John McCain supports the Colombian agreement, knows about our alliances with our hemisphere and understands our economy grows thanks to trade."

Villamil also takes a swipe at Barack Obama: "In this election, there are some that talk about revising the free trade agreement with Mexico and Canada and oppose the agreement with Colombia. This would hurt our economic future."

Continue reading "The Free Trade Express" »

Click here to watch "Celebrate."

In response to Medicare legislation that stalled in the Senate (subscription) last week, two major health care organizations -- the American Medical Association and America's Health Insurance Plans -- are running dueling ads through the Fourth of July weekend.

The bill, H.R. 6331, would have blocked a 10.6 percent reduction in Medicare reimbursements to doctors. The cuts, which were supposed to go into effect Tuesday, have been put on a temporary hold in order to give Congress another chance at blocking the pay cuts when it returns from recess next week.

The AMA's ad buy, launched Tuesday, includes TV and radio ads appearing in six states. Designed to bolster support for the measure, the ad campaign targets 10 Republican senators (seven facing re-election) who voted against it, including New Hampshire's John Sununu (subscription).

Continue reading "Medicare Fireworks" »

Click here to listen to "Bread and Milk."

The partisan squabbles that stonewalled congressional efforts to decrease gasoline prices recently have shifted to the airwaves. The conservative advocacy group Freedom's Watch has joined the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in releasing ads in more than a dozen districts -- each aimed at blaming incumbents of the opposite party for skyrocketing gas prices.

The ads that Freedom’s Watch released Tuesday in 16 districts will run through the Independence Day weekend, like the DCCC's 13-district ad buy. In the one-minute spots, an announcer chastises lawmakers for voting against domestic drilling, even though "we have enough untapped oil in the U.S. to fuel 25 million homes and 60 million cars for the next 60 years." In the version (subscription) targeting Rep. Christopher Carney, D-Pa., an announcer contends that "producing our own oil would help lower costs and create more American jobs. But Chris Carney stands in the way while we cut back on gas and groceries, family outings and summer vacations."

Although all the ads send essentially the same message, Freedom's Watch went one step further for Reps. Nick Lampson, D-Texas, Travis Childers, D-Miss., and Don Cazayoux, D-La., citing more specific instances where the lawmakers either voted against or blocked attempts at increasing domestic oil production.

Continue reading "Stepping On The Gas" »

Click here to listen to "Taxes Hurt."

A new radio ad chastising former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen (D) is the target of a complaint filed last week by the New Hampshire Democratic Party with the Federal Elections Commission. State Democrats allege that the nonprofit group Americans For Job Security has violated elections laws by disguising itself as an issues organization while running political advertisements on behalf of Shaheen's opponent in the Senate campaign, incumbent John Sununu (R). Americans For Job Security President Stephen DeMaura called the claims "completely baseless."

"Shaheen pledged to oppose any new taxes," an announcer says in "Taxes Hurt" (subscription), "but she broke her pledge and proposed millions in new taxes -- taxes that hurt New Hampshire, taxes that hurt families, taxes that have cost New Hampshire jobs." Another announcer urges viewers to call Shaheen and "tell her to oppose higher taxes on New Hampshire families."

This is the first race the group has engaged in for this election season, but it is looking at "multiple" contests throughout the country, DeMaura said.

Click here to listen to "Independence."

Partisan fighting stymied efforts on the Hill aimed at addressing rising gas prices this month. Now, as lawmakers head home for July 4 recess with nothing to show constituents on the issue that tops most voters' priority lists, politicians are playing the blame game on oil prices.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is hoping to capitalize on what it bills as Republicans' refusal to compromise on energy policy. The DCCC launched radio ads in 13 congressional districts today, targeting GOP incumbents who, according to a release, "stand with George Bush and Big Oil while America's middle class families are being squeezed by the highest gas prices in history." The ads will play throughout the July 4 weekend.

The ads feature a Bush impersonator leaving a message on an answering machine for each of the targeted Republicans, thanking them for cooperating with his "Big Oil energy agenda." "Hayes-ey, Dubya here," begins a North Carolina version (subscription) aimed at Rep. Robin Hayes. "'Preciate you voting to keep giving billions in tax breaks to the big oil companies," the Bush sound-alike says.

Continue reading "Gas Gouging" »

Click here to listen to "Pat."

From traffic congestion and gas taxes to sexual predators and foster care, one conservative organization is keeping busy berating Washington state Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) on a host of issues.

The latest round of radio ads from the Olympia-based group It's Time For A Change is designed to pull at voters' heartstrings, claiming Gregoire has failed to help resolve the state's problems on two emotionally charged issues involving children.

In "Pat" (subscription), Patricia Gibbs of Tacoma says that after her granddaughter was sexually assaulted, the perpetrator got off with "5 1/2 months in jail" and "counseling." An announcer adds that "hundreds of dangerous child predators have eluded justice" in Washington state on Gregoire's watch. "The governor has made it easier for these perpetrators to get away with what they want to do," Gibbs concludes. "I don't know how she can go to sleep at night."

In "Mary" (subscription), former court-appointed special advocate Mary Radcliffe tells the story of a family of foster children living in poverty, and an announcer complains that Gregoire has vetoed millions of dollars in funds to the state foster care system. "I think Governor Gregoire has failed," says Radcliffe.

Continue reading "Looking Out For The Kids" »

Click here to listen to "Cuba Prisoners."

John McCain is continuing his quest to close in on the solid lead Barack Obama has garnered among Latino voters.

Fresh on the heels of two Spanish radio ads the presumptive GOP nominee released last week in Nevada and New Mexico, the campaign launched another (subscription) in South Florida on Tuesday that focuses on Cuba. The 60-second spot features Roberto Martin Perez, who was a Cuban political prisoner for nearly three decades, relating to McCain's experience as a POW and taking a veiled shot at Obama, who has said he would meet with Cuban President Raul Castro. "As someone who has survived the harsh conditions of the Vietnamese prisons, John McCain knows that freedom in Cuba won't be achieved with concessions to dictatorships," Perez says in Spanish.

Continue reading "Operation Hispanic Vote" »

Click here to listen to "Economy."

In his first ads of the general election campaign, John McCain is directing his attention to the economic struggles of Hispanic voters in the Southwest.

The Spanish-language radio ad (subscription), which began running in Nevada and New Mexico on June 4, tout McCain's plans to revive the economy -- such as his proposed federal gas-tax holiday -- with an emphasis on bipartisanship.

"When we are filling up the gas tank, we are not Republicans, Democrats or independents," an announcer says in Spanish. "We are Hispanics, and we all are hurting together in this uncertain economic time."

"We need someone that has a good economic plan," he adds, "and that is John McCain."

These will be the first of several McCain spots to come, after his campaign recently bought a reported $3 million of airtime in both large and small markets in states such as Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Working mother Pam Pugel from Seattle and small-business owner Jackie Richter from Eastern Washington are not happy about how much they're paying for gas -- and they're pointing fingers at Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) in two new radio ads released Monday.

With Gregoire having barely won the 2004 election after two recounts and with only a 130-vote lead over Dino Rossi (R), this year's rematch is gearing up to be another close and contentious battle.

The ads, released by the Olympia-based conservative organization It's Time For A Change, berate Gregoire for signing into law the "largest gas tax increase in state history" in 2005. "Under Gov. Christine Gregoire, traffic congestion on our highways has increased by 35 percent, while state transportation taxes have gone up nearly $400 per family," an announcer claims in the first ad, "Pam" (subscription).

Continue reading "Gas Tax Woes In Washington State" »

With questions persisting about Barack Obama's ability to win over working-class voters, particularly whites, Obama has embarked on a campaign this week to reach out to blue-collar Americans, re-donning the all-important American flag lapel pin and, as the New York Times points out, "sprinkling his speeches with references to God and country" to "reassure Democratic voters about his values." Obama is also up with two new radio ads in Kentucky -- home to many of the voters in question -- in which local Democratic leaders specifically reference Obama's Christian faith and love for his country.

Kentucky Rep. Ben Chandler (subscription) and Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo (subscription) star in the new spots, launched Wednesday, portraying Obama as someone Kentucky voters can relate to. "Once you get to know him, he’ll be like family to us," Mongiardo says in his ad. Both men talk about Obama's upbringing -- raised by a single mom, his grandfather who "served in Patton's army," and his grandmother who worked in a bomber factory" during World War II. "They didn't have much money, but they gave Barack a thirst for education, an abiding love for America, and a belief that we all have a stake in each other," Chandler says.

Both men stress the fact that Obama is a "strong Christian" who began his professional life working with churches "helping communities left behind when local plants closed." And they both touch on his economic plan, which calls for ending tax breaks for companies that outsource and providing tax breaks for the middle class.

Continue reading "Gimme That Old-Time Religion" »

Click here to watch "Change?"

After several months of sitting back and letting Democrats Steve Novick and Jeff Merkley go after each other, Republican incumbent Gordon Smith has jumped into the fray in the Oregon Senate race, launching attacks on both of his potential Democratic challengers, but saving special censure for Merkley.

Smith made his TV debut with "Get It" (subscription), a positive ad touting his record in the Senate as an "independent." Seated in a wood-paneled office with soothing music playing in the background, Gordon tries to separate himself from the "partisan fighting, gridlock" of the nation's capital. "That's Washington’s answer to your problems, not mine. I get it," he insists. "No matter who our next president is -- him or her -- I'll find common ground for the change we need." The ad closes with the tagline, "Common ground for the common good."

This tone of niceness didn't last long, however. Just days after "Get It" went on the air, Smith released an ad attacking both Merkley and Novick. "Change? " (subscription) challenges the notion that either Democrat will be a "candidate of change." An announcer accuses Merkley of breaking fundraising rules which he helped set and cites an article from the Oregonian calling Novick the "liberal champion of government spending."

Along with attacking his would-be opponents, Smith also attempts to do something in this ad that it may be difficult to pull off -- usurp the "change" label despite having 12 years of Washington experience. Merkley and Novick represent "more of the same when it's time for a change," the announcer concludes.

Continue reading "Smith Lashes Out At Oregon Dems" »

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 listen to "Two Peas In A Pod -- Coleman."

A new radio ad launched today as part of the Bush Legacy Project, an advertising campaign (subscription) intended to keep the pressure on President Bush during his last year in office, takes as its target not Bush himself but members of Congress who have supported his policies.

Focusing on Republican Sens. Norm Coleman of Minnesota and John Sununu of New Hampshire, along with four Republican congressmen, the ad buy hits its targets on two particularly sensitive issues for the president's party this season: the economy and Iraq.

"What has Senator Norm Coleman done?" asks an announcer in the Minnesota version (subscription) of the ad. "He's supported Bush's trickle-down economics that got us into this mess... and supported Bush's war in Iraq."

Continue reading "The Price Of Loyalty" »

Click here to listen to "Fill."

Stepping up its response to attacks from Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama's campaign released a radio ad defending his independence from lobbyists and commitment to alternative energy.

The new spot (subscription), which began airing Thursday afternoon, accuses Clinton of playing "political games" while Pennsylvanians face real problems. "An economy in shambles, families struggling, gas prices close to four dollars a gallon," the ad says. "What's Hillary Clinton's answer? Misleading negative ads."

Continue reading "Obama's Second Rebuttal" »

Click here to listen to "Real Life."

After a raft of new TV ads that pointedly declined to pick a fight with either of her presidential opponents, Hillary Rodham Clinton is up in Pennsylvania today with a new radio spot (subscription) harshly criticizing Barack Obama for his rhetoric on energy prices.

"In his TV ads, Barack Obama sounds like he'll take on the oil companies," an announcer says in the ad, which uses excerpts from an Obama spot on energy policy currently running in the state. Citing a report from the Annenberg-funded Factcheck.org that called Obama's ad "a little too slick," Clinton's radio spot implies that Obama's rhetoric has little substance to back it up -- echoing a familiar line from the New York senator's campaign.

The spot also attacks Obama for supporting "the Bush-Cheney energy bill" while "Hillary Clinton voted against that bill." It's the spot's closer, however, that truly drives home the campaign's overall message in unusually stark terms: "It's time for a president who takes on the oil companies in real life, not just on TV."

In a conference call with reporters this afternoon, Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson fumed over Obama's heavy paid-media investment in the state, accusing him of "doing everything he can on the air to buy this election in Pennsylvania" with an "unprecedented ad buy." He also blamed Obama's spot -- which makes no mention of Clinton but which Wolfson repeatedly called "misleading" and "not accurate" -- for forcing Clinton to release her ad.

"Senator Obama was urged to take the spot down by this campaign.... He has chosen not to do that," Wolfson said. "So it becomes incumbent upon us to set the record straight for voters in Pennsylvania."

Click here to listen to "Fighter."

Going into the Pennsylvania primary with a sizable lead but depleted coffers, Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign decided early on to forgo the strategy of expensive statewide ad buys it had used in previous contests in favor of niche advertising and grassroots organizing. With Clinton's funds still low, state polls tightening and Barack Obama having outspent her 5-to-1 in advertising, a pro-Clinton union has decided to supplement her efforts with an ad buy of its own.

The American Federation of Teachers on Monday released a radio spot (subscription) in markets across the state, touting Clinton's "solutions" to the country's economic problems and knocking Republican John McCain as "another George Bush." (It makes no mention of Obama.) The group has previously run ads supporting Clinton in Iowa, New Hampshire and other primary states, and has now invested about $2 million in media buys on her behalf.

Continue reading "Teachers Vouch For Clinton In Pennsylvania" »