Fat Lady Hasn't Sung In Georgia

And you thought you were done with political ads on TV. Well, not if you're in Georgia.

Because Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) seems stuck below the 50-percent mark in Tuesday's balloting, the race under state law seems destined for a December run-off. Freedom's Watch doesn't have much going on these days, and it isn't wasting any time.

The group -- which, depending on how you see it, either failed to fend off Democratic takeovers in Congress or succeeded in preventing worse Republican losses -- has a new ad trashing Jim Martin, the Democrat challenging Chambliss.

"Jim Martin says he's a champion of lower taxes," the ad says. "I guess that must have been another Jim Martin who criticized a $100 million tax cut plan for Georgia families...His evil twin maybe? Or just the same old tax-and-spend Martin policies."

Both candidates also bought air time for their own ads. And so it continues...

-- Will Evans

2:49 PM ET | 11- 7-2008 | permalink

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What They Don't Want You To Know

Now that it's over, we can look back and ponder which independent groups might have had an impact on the election, which attack ads left a mark, and who might have blown millions of dollars.

But there's at least one group that doesn't want us to know anything. It's in court, suing to strike down the disclosure requirements that tell us who runs ads near an election, how much gets spent and, sometimes, who puts up the cash.

The Committee for Truth in Politics was launched by a North Carolina Republican operative in late September, and spent $1.2 million on anti-Obama ads. Here's one that criticized Obama's abortion stance and another that falsely accused him of supporting early release for sex offenders

The ads aired in the midst of the general election campaign, but the committee hasn't reported anything about them. We know only because we subscribe to the Campaign Media Analysis Group, which has developed a sophisticated system to track ads on TV and estimates how much they cost.

The committee, represented by Republican lawyer extraordinaire James Bopp, argues it shouldn't have to reveal a thing. Bopp has sued the Federal Election Commission, arguing that what the group spends on ads is none of the government's, or the public's, business.

"We believe that the U.S. Constitution protects them from having to file that report," says Bopp. "The problem is having to file a report at all. To be regulated at all. To be accountable to the government at all."

Bopp is building on his success in a Supreme Court case last year that struck down a critical campaign finance regulation. We delve into the legal logic after the jump...

Continue reading "What They Don't Want You To Know" »

2:31 PM ET | 11- 7-2008 | permalink

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Senate Ads: The Last Roundup

Remember the United States Senate? Thirty-five seats up for election? Republicans in danger of losing a half-dozen or more?

While most everyone was talking about the presidential contest, what the next president actually does will be significantly determined by the composition of the Senate. So here's our roundup of the latest, and last, Senate ads.

Republicans Who Care is a 527 formed to support moderate Republicans and counterbalance the Club for Growth, which works to supplant moderates with conservatives. This year it wanted to prop up Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR), in danger of being picked off by Democrat Jeff Merkley.

The group received $50,000 this year from hedge fund billionaire Robert Ziff and another $50,000 from Amory Houghton Jr., a former Republican congressman who used to run Corning Inc. James R. Houghton, retired chair of Corning, also gave $20,000.

Amo Houghton also founded the Republican Main Street Partnership, which spawned Republicans Who Care. Sarah Chamberlain Resnick handles finances for both groups.

The Republicans Who Care ad in Oregon accuses Merkley of supporting higher taxes...and taxes and taxes and taxes.

The housing and construction industries didn't want to lose Sen. Smith either. Both the National Association of Home Builders and the Associated Builders and Contractors trade association took to the radio airwaves with ads cheerleading for Smith.

We couldn't get ABC to share its ad with us, but the Home Builders ad says Smith "keeps watch to ensure equality and fiscal responsibilty" from his perch on the Senate Finance Committee. The Home Builders association has given Smith $41,000 over his career, making it Smith's 11th largets contributor, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Some of the lines in the ad are made for kindergarten (no offense to kindergarteners), but they get the message across: "Few committees are more important. Sounds like a tremendous amount of work. It is. And Gordon Smith is ready for more of it. That is a good thing."

And now for Republicans Who Don't Care....No. Just kidding.

The Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America, which popped up to support McCain in the Republican primaries, targeted the not-exactly-endangered Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD). The group was formed by former McCain advisor Rick Reed, who co-produced the TV ads for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004. (McCain denounced the group's efforts during the primaries.)

Concentrating now on Senate races, the 501(c)(4) reportedly ran a radio ad against Democratic candidate Bruce Lunsford in Kentucky. The South Dakota ad blames Democrats for the economic crisis and knocks Johnson for taking money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Check out Citizens for Strength and Security and Americans for Job Security after the jump...

Continue reading "Senate Ads: The Last Roundup" »

9:02 PM ET | 11- 4-2008 | permalink

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And They Keep Coming

Independent groups are vying to get in the last word before the election's over, so we'll try too. Here's a litte potpourri of last-minute efforts...

And it doesn't get more last-minute than this: Vets for Freedom just busted out with a TV ad today, airing in Pennsylvania and Ohio, channeling some veterans' anger at Obama. The ad (below) starts out talking about Dwight Eisenhower and some letters he wrote and how Obama only wrote one letter, except that's a metaphor...but the real message is that Obama only saw failure in the courageous efforts of Iraq War veterans. It ends with a spoof of one of Obama's slogans, saying, "Can we win our war? Yes we can."

Meanwhle, RightChange.com picked up a star of Republican Big Money: Bob Perry, the mega-donor who gave millions to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004. Perry gave $100,000 to RightChange's campaign against Obama and in defense of Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC). It's somehow reasuring to know that Perry isn't slacking off this election season.

Progressive Future, which we already profiled, put up an anti-McCain ad on cable that's more about mood than message. It shows images of people struggling with the economic downturn set to Paul Simon singing, "I don't know a soul who's not been battered..." When Simon gets to the lyrics, "I wonder what's gone wrong," the ad ends up on a Bush-McCain hug.

Guns and abortion -- with a special appearance by Chuck Norris -- after the jump...

Continue reading "And They Keep Coming" »

4:14 PM ET | 11- 4-2008 | permalink

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The Union Of Politics And Telemarketing -- What's Not To Like?

Robocalls -- those recorded, automatically dailed phone messages -- have been lighting up phones everywhere the past few days. Nobody seems to like getting them. Some are innocuous -- the standard fare of campaigns and candidates. But then there are underhanded, unaccountable calls meant to confuse voters.

For example, calls have been going out into Virginia and Pennsylvania telling people to vote tomorrow, on Nov. 5, according to Jonah Goldman, director of Election Protection at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights. Goldman says he doesn't know who's responsible, but similar misleading messages are being distributed via email, FaceBook and flyers, often targeting young and minority voters.

A third kind of robocall comes from independent groups trying to influence your vote. The Republican Jewish Coalition, for example, is sending anti-Obama robocalls to Jewish voters. The call quotes Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) saying that Obama lacked the "political courage" to leave Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church. The RJC labels the United Church of Christ congregation "anti-Semitic" and "anti-American." The call hammers home the point with this: "If Obama doesn't have the courage to do the right thing here at home, can he stand up to dictators and tyrants who seek to do us harm? We should all be concerned about Barack Obama."

The National Political Do Not Call Registry tracks all sorts of robocalls -- and lets you report them.

Christina Perkins, of eastern Virginia, told us she got her first robocall last week, and was a bit taken aback. The call, she says, started out asking if she is a registered voter, without identifying who wanted to know. The second question, "Are you pro-life?" struck Perkins as "sort of out of left field."

She answered, "No," to which the robocall replied by saying that Obama would "raise your taxes by almost $3,000." Does that change your mind about Obama, the call asked? Perkins said, "No," and the message concluded by saying the group that sponsored it was in support of John McCain.

Perkins couldn't remember the exact name of the group, but we traced it back to Christian conservative leader, one-time presidential hopeful and former Reagan advisor Gary Bauer.

Bauer, who heads Americans United to Preserve Marriage and the group American Values, hired ccAdvertising to do the calls in Virginia, said his spokeswoman, Kristi Hamrick. Hamrick said Bauer also ran some get-out-the-vote radio ads in battleground states.

Hamrick said she wasn't sure which Bauer organization paid for the robocalls But it appears to be Americans United to Preserve Marriage. Let's check out the group's funding after the jump...

Continue reading "The Union Of Politics And Telemarketing -- What's Not To Like?" »

1:35 PM ET | 11- 4-2008 | permalink

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Big Bucks Let Freedom Ring

We know that Let Freedom Ring is one of the most active anti-Obama organizations this election. It's spending millions of dollars on a seemingly infinite supply of new ads.

And now we know who's bankrolling the massive effort.

Benefactor number one is John Templeton Jr., who is also chairman of Let Freedom Ring. He plunked down $2.7 million so far. He may have given more, for activities the group doesn't have to report.

Templeton, whose father was a famous investor, was a co-chair of the faith and values steering committee of unsuccessful Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. A born-again Christian, he's also one of the biggest donors to a ballot initiative in California this year that would ban same-sex marriage; he and his wife gave $1.2 million.

Some of Templeton's other gifts this year: $776,000 to the College Republican National Committee, $550,000 to the Republican State Leadership Committee and $200,000 to the Club for Growth.

Let Freedom Ring also received $500,000 in September from Virginia James aka Virginia Manheimer, a school voucher activist and donor. James is also a co-founder of the Club for Growth, which she gave $700,000 this year.

"Smaller" donors to Let Freedom Ring include Foster Friess and Nathan Bachman, who each gave $100,000. Friess is a sucessful Wyoming investor who formerly served as president of the Council for National Policy, an umbrella group for the religious right. Friess explains his opposition to Obama via YouTube. Bachman is an Ohio investor who gave $10,000 to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004.

And here, below, is a sample of what that money buys: an emotional "Best Of" compendium of conservative complaints against Obama: Rev. Wright; Bill Ayres; Tony Rezko; "clinging" to guns and religion; contributions from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae; ACORN; and taxes and spending. Let Freedom Ring put up the ad on TV this weekend.

-- Will Evans

11:24 AM ET | 11- 3-2008 | permalink

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"The Culture Of Death" And Other Last-Minute Volleys

With the campaign din becoming ever more shrill in these last hours, opponents of Barack Obama are hoping an anti-abortion message can cut through to sympathetic voters.

The National Pro-Life Alliance put up this ad in New Mexico, targeting both Obama and the Democratic candidate for Senate, Rep. Tom Udall. The ad recounts an incident in which two teenagers dumped their newborn baby in a Dumpster. It occurred 12 years ago in Delaware. The urgently delivered voiceover likens it to partial-birth abortion, and notes that Udall and Obama "voted to continue this grisly procedure." The group used identical language in Senate ads as far back as 2000.

The Virginia-based alliance started in 1993 partially in response to the election of Bill Clinton, and now has 600,000 members, said its president Martin Fox, a Catholic priest in Ohio. The group is currently pushing legislation that would overturn Roe v. Wade.

Common Sense Issues, which pushed for Mike Huckabee during the Republican primaries and then backed out of the presidential race, recently jumped back in with an ad attacking Obama on abortion.

Running in the newly competitive states of North Dakota and Montana, the ad shows footage of Obama saying that the question of when a fetus gets human rights is "above my pay grade." That line has become one of Obama's biggest faux pas, seized upon by pro-life activists. The ad includes an interview with Bernard Nathanson, a former abortion doctor and founding member of what is now NARAL Pro-Choice America, who became an outspoken anti-abortion activist in the 1970s. He calls legalized abortion "the greatest mistake this nation has ever conceived."

Tying Obama to the "culture of death," after the jump...

Continue reading ""The Culture Of Death" And Other Last-Minute Volleys" »

11:13 AM ET | 11- 3-2008 | permalink

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Attack Of The Attack Ads

We thought some of the attack ads in September and October set new standards for tearing down a candidate.

We were naive.

RightChange.com just put out one of the most heavy-handed ads we've seen. It starts with sirens wailing and shaky video of the World Trade Towers billowing smoke -- footage that would have been unthinkable in a political ad a few years ago. The voiceover ties 9/11 to the current economic crisis and says,"'Joe Biden predicts another attack." The ad runs audio of Biden's prediction of a "generated crisis"; there are quick, staged images of "terrorists" preparing an attack, with a photo of Barack Obama also appearing. The ad ends with a bomb blast.

This from a group that, until now, has focused on taxes.

The other recent ad attacking Obama in the context of 9/11 came from the National Republican Trust PAC, which is spending enormous amounts on its anti-Obama ads in the final stretch. It reported ad buys of $800,000 Wednesday, $1.2 million Thursday and $2.53 million Friday.

GOP Trust PAC is truly in the major leagues. In just one month of activity, it surpased MoveOn.org in independent expenditures for the whole campaign season, according the Center for Responsive Politics.

Yet another attack-PAC, Freedom's Defense Fund, just came out the ad below, which accuses Obama of having "campaigned" for a "communist" Kenyan leader who "spread fundamental Islamic law" while "the Christian majority is under attack." Both Politifact and Factcheck.org have already debunked these claims, popular among anti-Obama conspiracy theorists. They derive from the widely discredited book of Jerome Corsi, who has been a paid consultant to Freedom's Defense Fund.

And finally, there's a simple but brutal ad from the Republican Majority Campaign, after the jump...

Continue reading "Attack Of The Attack Ads" »

6:21 PM ET | 11- 1-2008 | permalink

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Catholics Can't Vote For Obama?

Retired Texas Bishop Rene Gracida says that Catholics cannot, in good conscience, vote for Obama. Now, in a last-ditch attempt to derail Latino support for Obama, an anti-abortion crusader and anti-illegal immigration activist have teamed up to blast out Gracida's message by email to nearly three million Latino voters and reaching even more people by radio.

Randall Terry, the aggressive anti-abortion organizer who founded Operation Rescue, says it was his idea. He enlisted Gracida, who made national headlines in 1990 by excommunicating three Catholics for assisting with abortions. In 2004, Gracida gave a special benediction for the Republican National Convention.

In the English-language version of his anti-Obama message, Gracida says, "A Catholic cannot be said to have voted in this election with a good conscience if they have voted for a pro-abortion candidate. Barack Hussein Obama is a pro-abortion candidate." You can hear the Spanish version here.

Terry called the email blast "a blockbuster because Obama is desperate to take the Hispanic vote." He told us the emails went to "2.9 million Hispanic voters" as well as "100,000 whites." He corrected that to "100,000 Americans," then quickly said that didn't sound quite right either. He said he hasn't had much sleep, due to this last-minute effort.

RightMarch.com provided financial and logistical support for the campaign, buying a bit of radio time in Ohio, and procuring the massive email list to reach Latinos.

RightMarch's president, William Greene, made illegal immigration his top issue last year, when he lost a special election for Congress in Georgia. A fundraising letter of support for Greene from the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps PAC (which we profiled here) described Greene thusly:

Ads Hit McCain In Home State, Obama In Florida

Arizona is McCain territory -- he's made his home there since 1982 -- and losing it to Barack Obama would sting. So it's no wonder MoveOn.org wants to make that happen. With Obama's campaign gearing up in the state, the liberal group joins in with this TV ad, showcasing a Republican vet who is voting for Obama.

Obama's homestate of Illinois isn't really in play, so his foes are hitting him where it will hurt most. The Republican Jewish Coalition extended its ad buy in Florida with a $104,000 donation from David Kaufman, a Connecticut businessman who runs an eye care center.

It's down to the wire, folks, so this is your last chance to lay down $100k for the cause!

Whichever cause that might be.

-- Will Evans

5:02 PM ET | 10-31-2008 | permalink

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RightChange Gets Money From Controversial Businessman

RightChange.com's blitz of anti-Obama ads has been bankrolled mainly with more than $5 million from pharmaceutical executive Fred Eshelman. But this month the 527 organization diversified: it put out a new ad (below) supporting Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole in its home state of North Carolina. And it reported receiving $100,000 from a controversial businessman named R. Craig Estey.

In trying to figure out who Estey is, we found some interesting background. Estey runs a chain of gambling parlors in Nevada called Dotty's. He also operated one of the biggest video gambling operations in Oregon until the state lottery ran him out of town.

In December 2006, Oregon Lottery Director Dale Penn wrote Estey to terminate his state lottery contract because "you do not satisfy the requirements of good character, honesty, and integrity that apply to all Lottery Retailers."

It all started with a domestic dispute Estey had in 2005, when he allegedly held a gun to his then-wife's head and threatened her life.

Gaming officials from Nevada looked into it. The Gaming Control Board said that Estey initially lied to its investigators before admitting his wife's version of events. He eventually agreed to a $200,000 fine from the Nevada Gaming Commission.

The Oregon State Lottery eventually found out about the case from a newspaper columnist. Because of the incident, the lying and the fact that Estey didn't notify Oregon officials of his problems, Penn wrote that "your continued association with the Oregon Lottery poses a threat to the actual or apparent integrity, fairness and security of the Lottery and is not consistent with the public interest, convenience and trust in keeping with the sensitive nature of the Lottery."

We tried to contact Estey through his lawyer on Wednesday but Estey hasn't responded. He sold his Oregon company last year but is still operating in Nevada. And now, Estey is venturing into the not-quite-ended 2008 campaign.

-- Will Evans

1:41 PM ET | 10-31-2008 | permalink

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Swift Boat Donor Defends Mitch McConnell

Swift Boat Veterans founding donor Bob Perry is funding a new 527 organization, but this one is a lot less expensive.

The First Amendment Alliance is airing radio ads against Democrat Bruce Lunsford, who is in a tight race with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Perry, a Texas developer, gave $50,000 this month to the group. He's better known for giving $4.4 million in seed money to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which helped to defeat John Kerry in 2004.

The Alliance is run by political consultant Anthony Holm, who doubles as Perry's spokesperson. Holm's consulting firm includes other connected Republicans, such as the daughter of Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). He told us in a phone interview that he has done work in the past for Vice President Dick Cheney. Holm serves as the Alliance's only director.

He said he didn't have time to share more information about the Alliance or its ads.

The group, which was formed last year, also received $75,000 from the holding company of Mischer Investments, another Texas real estate developer. The company was built by the late Walter Mischer Sr., a longtime Houston powerbroker. A third donor was Connecticut investor Jonathan Farber, who gave $20,000. Farber's private equity firm invests in the oil and gas industry.

This isn't Bob Perry's only project. Also this year, Perry gave $750,000 to the Republican Governors Association, $650,000 to the Club for Growth, and $100,000 to the College Republican National Committee. Overall, though, Perry didn't take to federal 527s like he did in 2004.

-- Will Evans

1:37 PM ET | 10-31-2008 | permalink

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GOP Trust PAC Gets On The Air

The National Republican Trust PAC is finally putting some advertising muscle behind all its claims about being able to beat Obama. The group yesterday laid down $880,000 on an ad buy, pretty big for an insta-PAC created last month. We earlier blogged that the PAC was spending more on fundraising emails than actual airtime, but this completely changes the calculation.

You know you're bigtime when Factcheck.org dedicates a full article to debunking your ad. National Republican Trust got that distinction this week, with the added bonus of being accused of producing "one of the sleaziest false TV ads of the campaign."

The PAC even pumped out another ad, again accusing Obama of wanting to give government benefits to illegal immigrants, with a cherry on top: Obama "wants to redistribute your money." It's the Republican attack point of the moment, with only moments to spare.

-- Will Evans

10:22 PM ET | 10-30-2008 | permalink

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Reagan Endorses Obama! Or Not

Okay, so Ronald Reagan isn't around to actually endorse anyone. But that won't stop political operatives from invoking his presidency to boost their candidate. A new, liberal Colorado-based group called Progressive Future is bringing back the Gipper to put in a plug for Obama, while the conservative Let Freedom Ring calls Obama the "anti-Reagan."

Progressive Future's ad, airing in Florida and Ohio, starts off with footage of Reagan delivering his powerful rhetorical question of the 1980 debate against Jimmy Carter: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" (One of the strategists who came up with the line later modestly called it "probably the most devastating line Mr. Reagan used against Mr. Carter." The strategist was writing a column hoping that John Kerry wouldn't use it with success against President Bush.)

The ad continues with Reagan's speech, set against images of Dick Cheney, Osama Bin Laden, rising gas prices, a home foreclosure, and, crucially, Bush together with John McCain. Reagan says, "If you don't think that this course that we've been on for the last four years is what you would like to see us follow for the next four, then I could suggest another choice that you have." And just as he mentions "another choice," there is Obama set against a giant American flag, gazing off into the distance at those Reagan Democrats he needs on Tuesday.

Obama himself played off the line last week at a Florida rally, saying, "At this rate, the question isn't just 'Are you better off than you were four years ago?', it's 'Are you better off than you were four weeks ago?'"

But Obama isn't running against an incumbent, as Reagan was. McCain aired his own ad saying, "We're worse off than we were four years ago," distancing himself from Bush's legacy.

Let Freedom Ring -- as part of an endless stream of new ads, some on TV and some Web-only -- tries to cast some of Reagan's glow on McCain instead of Obama. This new video calls Obama the "anti-Reagan" and says to McCain, "Your economic policies are the policies of Ronald Reagan."

We already dug up the background on Let Freedom Ring. Now let's take a look at Progressive Future and its dizzying array of affiliated groups, after the jump...

Continue reading "Reagan Endorses Obama! Or Not" »

2:54 PM ET | 10-30-2008 | permalink

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Uppercase Or Lowercase -- Big Difference

Let Freedom Ring is putting a lot of money behind its current kitchen-sink blast of anti-Obama ads. Attention must be paid.

The latest in the freedom-ringing fusillade shows Obama saying he will not develop new nuclear weapons and will "slow our development of future combat systems." The footage is from what the ad calls an "Obama campaign-produced solicitation video" from last October.

Notice that the ad uses the lowercase form for "future combat systems," implying that Obama wants to slow development of all combat systems. McCain has used the same line against Obama. But as the Army Times and the libertarian Cato Institute point out, Future Combat Systems -- uppercase -- is a specific military program that McCain also has opposed.

In any case, the ad segues to Reagan appointee Frank Gaffney, who says that leaders who convey an unwillingness to use military might show weakness to "our enemies" and "weakness invites agression." Gaffney's dead-serious monologue also featured in the gaffe ad starring Joe Biden. Joe the Gaffer makes another appearance in an extended version of the ad (also on TV), with his much-publicized prediction that "it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama."

-- Will Evans

5:38 PM ET | 10-29-2008 | permalink

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Trust In Small Business, Not Obama

It's sort of like a reverse coattails effect. A pro-business political action committee is running ads boosting vulnerable Republican senators by contrasting them with Obama. In fact, the spots seem more like anti-Obama ads than ads supporting pro-business Republicans, as they are billed by the Trust in Small Business PAC.

The cookie-cutter ads start out saying "Barack Obama's endless promises guarantee a huge expansion of federal programs, paid for with tax increases on the back of small business." Gloomy images of shuttered shops give way to a vibrant businesses and triumpant music as the ad says, "Vote for a proven friend of small business."

Those proven friends are Sens. John Sununu (NH), Elizabeth Dole (NC), Mitch McConnell (KY), Roger Wicker (MS), Saxby Chambliss (GA) and Louisiana Senate challenger John Kennedy. You can watch all of the ads here, or the Wicker one below.

The PAC, which aired ads in 2006 Senate races, is run by Mari Rusch, who used to be national finance director for the National Federation of Independent Business. NFIB is also running ads in close Senate races.

The Obama-is-bad-so-Republican-is-good message may have some traction in states like Louisiana and Mississippi, rated "Solid GOP" for McCain by NPR's Ken Rudin. But maybe not so much in New Hampshire, which is "Leaning Democrat" for Obama.

-- Will Evans

11:17 PM ET | 10-28-2008 | permalink

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I'm Not Endorsing, But Vote For Him Anyway

On his latest Focus on the Family Action radio broadcast, evangelical leader James Dobson says, "While I will not endorse either candidate this year...I can say that I am now supportive of Senator John McCain and his bid for the presidency."

With Dobson's definition of "supportive," who needs an endorsement? Dobson was reading from his October newsletter, which goes out to millions and lays out his reasons for supporting McCain and, even more vigorously, opposing Obama. Also on the radio recently, Dobson said, "I want our listeners to know that I have never, never been so concerned about the state of our nation," pointing to the willingness of many voters to elect "a leader, Barack Obama, who supports and will promote the most radical and unconscionable forms of abortion and policies that will result in many, many more babies dying."

Before that, Dobson dedicated another broadcast to talking with two women behind Born Alive Truth, a new 527 airing anti-Obama TV ads. Focus on the Family Action itself recently spent $112,000 airing a radio version of the ad in stations across Colorado. Now that's "supportive."

The abortion issue is at the top of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund's agenda as well, but the group has so far kept the debate out if its ads, even as it attacks McCain and running mate Sarah Palin.

Planned Parenthood's newest ad (below) focuses instead on the group's own study ripping apart McCain's health care plan. Airing in the Washington D.C. market, which covers Obama-friendly Northern Virginia, it features a nurse calling the McCain plan "bad medicine." And yes, Planned Parenthood did endorse Obama.

-- Will Evans

10:10 PM ET | 10-27-2008 | permalink

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Anti-Obama Ads, Amid An Onslaught Of Emails

Every election season, some independent groups sizzle with controversy and impact, and others fizzle. We couldn't tell at first, but the National Republican Trust PAC appears to be of the sizzling variety.

The political action committee -- founded by a trio who have tried to prove a link between Saddam Hussein and the Sept. 11 attacks -- has new anti-Obama ads on the air and a fundraising machine in overdrive. One ad dredges up inflamatory comments by Obama's former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and the other says Obama wants to give driver's licenses and government benefits to "illegals."

A fundraising email today said the group has raised $1 million for its "emergency effort to stop Barack Obama" and seeks $1 million more for the campaign's final week. The email promises, "Almost all of our net dollars raised -- after marketing costs -- are going directly into our ad war against Obama."

That phrase "after marketing costs" is significant. Of $903,000 in expenditures against Obama reported this month, about 56 percent, or $507,000, went to paying for fundraising emails like the one we just mentioned. Media buys and production accounted for 39 percent, or $356,000. The rest, $40,000, went to advertising, direct mail and phone calls.

Peter Leitner, the group's treasurer, told us, "There's a lag in reporting. We're spending a large amount of money on the media buys...The biggest ticket item is the airtime."

Here's the Rev. Wright ad, which says, "For 20 years, Barack Obama followed a preacher of hate."

Continue on for the "Illegals" ad...

Continue reading "Anti-Obama Ads, Amid An Onslaught Of Emails" »

6:16 PM ET | 10-27-2008 | permalink

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Promoting An Ethnic Wedge Issue

A Republican Latino group with ties to the Bush Administration is airing ads alleging that Obama puts African Americans before Latinos and Africa before Latin America.

The 527 group, Latinos For Reform, is new this month and now it's running a Spanish-language radio ad in Pennsylvania and Colorado and a TV version in New Mexico. The ad translates, in part, as:

Barack Obama a friend of the Latino community? The record demonstrates the opposite. Did you know that after the 2000 census that showed a tremendous growth of Latinos in Chicago, Obama told reporters in Chicago that while everyone agrees that the Hispanic population has grown, they cannot expand by taking power from the African-American community. You heard right...but there's more. Did you know that Obama has never hired a Latino to a senior position in his office throughout his legislative career? Did you know that Obama has opposed trade with Mexico, Central America and Colombia, yet supports free trade with Africa?

The chairman of Latinos For Reform is Robert Deposada, who has served in the leadership of the Hispanic Business Roundtable and The Latino Coalition, and was formerly director of Hispanic affairs for the Republican National Committee. In 2001, President Bush appointed Deposada to a commission to advance the administration's plan for privatizing Social Security.

Deposada tells us that with Obama, "You start seeing that traditional relationship that you have between African-American elected officials and Latino elected officials. I think it's been a tension."

The treasurer of Latinos For Reform is high-powered Republican lobbyist Juan Carlos Benitez, whose firm brags that he "has exceptionally close ties to the White House." Benitez was a Pioneer -- he raised more than $100,000 for the 2004 re-election campaign -- and President Bush named him special counsel for immigration-related unfair employment practices. Benitez also raised between $50,000 and $100,000 this election cycle for McCain.

Deposada says he and other conservative Latinos are disappointed that McCain hasn't put more effort into courting the Latino vote.

"We were honestly so ridiculously frustrated," he says. "There's never been a Republican candidate with a better track record with the Latino community. Our big concern is that I can just picture the Republican Party after the election saying, 'If we couldn't get the Hispanic vote with John McCain, who is so pro-Hispanic, then why bother?'"

-- Will Evans

8:13 PM ET | 10-24-2008 | permalink

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NC Citizen's Ads: Almost An Update

North Carolina defense contractor Tim D'Annunzio is doing what almost no other citizen does, or can afford to do. He's producing and airing his own political ads, as we reported earlier this week. They're all anti-Obama.

He has four ads on his Web site, and one of them is on TV. We wondered whether the others might turn up on-air, and what his plan is.

Political groups usually aren't shy about publicizing their strategies, but D'Annunzio is. He declined to answer our questions. "I believe Obama is truly a socialist," he wrote via e-mail. "I believe he will destroy this country." As for our humble blog, "You write from a pro Obama, pro socialist, pro liberal perspective." So, no answers.

-- Will Evans and Peter Overby

8:02 PM ET | 10-24-2008 | permalink

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The Cameraman Always Wins

Why do people assault cameramen? Don't they realize they have cameras?

It's a continuing mystery, as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce uses one angry-man-versus-cameraman confrontation to blast union-friendly legislation and the Democrats who support it.

The new ad, airing in states like Minnesota and Oregon with key Senate races, shows footage of Kentucky AFL-CIO President Bill Londrigan with his hands all over someone's camera, threatening, "I'm going to take this camera and stick it somewhere where you don't want it." The ad is meant to suggest that workers could face this kind of treatment from "union bosses" -- if Senate Democrats can enact a bill that would let workers simply sign a petition to unionize a workplace, rather than hold a secret-ballot vote. Londrigan was reportedly not amused.

The Chamber is in the midst of its biggest election-season effort yet, committing some $35 million to help pro-business candidates in House and Senate races. A big part of the campaign focuses on opposing that pro-union bill, called the Employee Free Choice Act. (It's awkward to oppose "free choice," so one business group re-names it the "Employee FORCED Choice Act," helpfully retaining the orginial acronym.)

A top issue on Election Day? Hardly. It doesn't even make this list in those "top issues for voters" polls. But it's a huge issue to the business community, which is busy trying to sell it as something voters need to care about.

We've had the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace pound away against the legislation. And the business-backed Employee Freedom Action Committee has raised $20 million and is spending it on TV ads. (Here's the action committee's latest.) Americans for Job Security also got into the act with new ads targetting the Act. All of groups are using the issue against Democratic candidates in hot Senate races.

Meanwhile -- perhaps ironically? -- the AFL-CIO just launched a multi-state radio campaign "urging citizens to vote and telling them how to be prepared to protect their vote on Election Day."

-- Will Evans

7:45 PM ET | 10-24-2008 | permalink

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From "Oops" To On-Air In Five Days

How long does it take to go from gaffe to attack ad? Five days, based on our most recent example.

You'll recall that on Sunday, Democratic VP candidate Joe Biden said, "Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy...Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

Biden is famous for flubs, and this seems to be his biggest during the general election. Or as the New York Post put it, "JOE D'OH PUTS O IN 'CRISIS' MODE."

So that was Sunday. Already McCain, Palin and conservatives have rubbed it in Obama's face. And now, Let Freedom Ring has launched an ad in battleground states with the audio of Biden's remark. It starts running tomorrow and will eventually be up in Nevada, Ohio, Colorado, Pennsylvania and the pricey Virginia-Washington D.C. market. The ad also features Reagan appointee Frank Gaffney arguing, on something of a tangent, that "weakness invites aggression."

It's guaranteed that Biden didn't look as happy as he does in the ad when he realized the impact of his gaffe. But let's not put all the blame on Biden. Obama gets his own gaffe ad after the jump...

Continue reading "From "Oops" To On-Air In Five Days" »

6:28 PM ET | 10-23-2008 | permalink

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Electioneering By Hypnosis In Oregon

The Democrats have figured it out. The key to defeating Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) is hynosis. How else to explain these similarly transfixing anti-Smith ads from two liberal groups?

The Service Employees International Union offers a spinning kaleidoscope of money, symbolizing the "deep dark hole" of the economy. Add ominous music, show Smith's face; then bring back the kaleidoscope, cue the feel-good chords and show Smith's competition, Democrat Jeff Merkley. In Youtube format, you can watch again and again!

If that didn't work, try this: 30 seconds of water spiraling down the drain, countesy of Patriot Majority, a union-funded 527 trying to defeat Smith because he's "draining the middle class." Then the words on the screen dissolve into water and spiral down too....woah. For the full effect, we suggest playing both ads at the same time.

Did it work on you? If not, more ads (of the non-whirling variety) after the jump:

Continue reading "Electioneering By Hypnosis In Oregon" »

6:01 PM ET | 10-23-2008 | permalink

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Sure, The Economy Is Important, But...

Abortion, religion and judges -- oh my! Move over, economy, the culture wars continue.

The Judicial Confirmation Network's most recent ad says it best: "Fixing the economy is crucial, but..." But? Yes, but what? "But America's principles and Constitution are threatened by one more liberal activist vote on the Supreme Court." The $250,000 ad buy goes out to Pennsylvania, Ohio and northern West Virginia.

On the other side of the spectrum, Winning Message Action Fund bashes McCain-Palin for wanting to overturn Roe v. Wade. The action fund recently sprang forth from NARAL Pro-Choice New York. The dramatic ad shows women lining up for mug shots, some cringing with the flash of a camera, going to jail because they had abortions after the practice was made illegal. (Generally, it should be noted, anti-abortion legislation mandates prosecution for the doctors, not the women.) The ad airs in Wisconsin and Ohio.

An ad for Christian radio after the jump...

Continue reading "Sure, The Economy Is Important, But..." »

5:46 PM ET | 10-23-2008 | permalink

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Alan Keyes' Revenge

Think of it as a rematch.

In 2004, Alan Keyes -- the Christian conservative activist and perennial long-shot candidate -- lost the Illinois Senate race by a landslide to a state senator named Barack Obama.

Now, as Obama runs for president, Keyes is the presidential nominee of America's Independent Party (which sees John McCain as too liberal and the Keyes campaign as an "extension" of the 2004 race against Obama.)

Obama certainly doesn't face much of a challenge from Keyes' candidacy, but separately two former top Keyes campaign officials are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars through a Keyes-founded political action committee to defeat Obama.

The Life and Liberty PAC, an anti-abortion organization, has spent nearly $700,000 since February on phone calls, direct mail and canvassing against Obama. The group's chair is Mary Parker Lewis, who served as Keyes' chief of staff for his presidential runs in 1996 and 2000, and his treasurer in the 2004 race against Obama. Life and Liberty's chief financial officer is Bill Constantine, who was treasurer for Keyes' 2000 run and is listed as assistant treasurer for the 2004 race. Constantine said that though Keyes founded the PAC, he isn't currently involved.

"The issues haven't changed," Constantine told us. "The reasons Barack Obama was bad for Illinois are the same reasons he's bad for America."

Life and Liberty PAC is just one component in a cluster of groups linked to Keyes.

Keyes, Lewis and Constantine also head up the Keyes-founded Declaration Foundation and affiliated Declaration Alliance, which has spent millions on the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a project that includes patroling the border for illegal immigrants. The constellation of organizations include several political action committees that are blasting out direct mail pieces against Obama.

More after the jump...

Continue reading "Alan Keyes' Revenge" »

2:46 PM ET | 10-23-2008 | permalink

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A Tour Of Senate Ads

Our business here is to monitor indie political groups and their ads, and business has been good. Advocacy groups haven't run out of money. The bad news? They've run out of ideas.

Two new North Carolina ads follow story lines we've heard over and over before (not that that's a bad way to influence voters -- it just makes the blog more boring). Here's one from Freedom's Watch, blaming Democratic Senate candidate Kay Hagan for jacking up taxes. Our takeaway: She wants to tax candy?!

Next, Americans for Job Security denounces unions that want to take away secret ballots in union elections. "Hagan's on their side, not ours," the ad says, as an armored truck speeds out of Washington, presumably delivering union cash to Hagan. Watch the ad here. There's a virtually identical ad targeting the Democrat Ronnie Musgrove in a Mississippi Senate race.

Moving along to New Hampshire... Labor unions (those bad guys from the last ad) are piling on to Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) by, predictably, tying him to President Bush. The distinguishing factor? The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees uses a rope metaphor (we're at the "end of our rope") and the Service Employees International Union uses a country-store cash register gimmick. We don't have the AFSCME ad in blogable format, so you'll have to trust us. Here's the SEIU ad:

Now follow us to Minnesota for a breath of fresh ideas...

Continue reading "A Tour Of Senate Ads" »

12:55 PM ET | 10-23-2008 | permalink

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Citizen Tim Takes On Obama Himself

The one form of political advertising that's completely unregulated and free is the speech of an individual citizen, even when money amplifies that speech by putting it on the airwaves. Tim D'Annunzio, who describes himself as a "concerned North Carolina businessman," is doing just that. The former defense contractor has produced four several hard-hitting ads against Obama with now-familiar themes: Taxes, Abortion, Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers.

The only ad we know is running on TV (below) hits Obama on taxes. In it, D'Annunzio says he was living below the poverty line a decade ago, but built his company, Paraclete Armor & Equipment, into a workforce of hundreds. He says Obama's "promised tax increases will devastate people like me, by taking more than half of my business profits. This will force me to cut jobs and increase prices."

A former Army parachute jumper, D'Annunzio founded Paraclete to make body armor for the military and law enforcement. It provides equipment for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and makes millions from defense contracts.

The company received more than $26 million in federal contracts since 2001, mostly from the Air Force, according to the government database USASpending.gov. About $2.6 million of the contracts were awarded without competition. In addition, in 2006 the company recevied a $3.5 million loan from the Agriculture Department's Rural Business-Cooperative Service. In 2005, it received a $293,000 loan from the Small Business Administration.

Paraclete gave $2,000 to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004.

A larger, public company, MSA (Mine Safety Appliances Co.), bought Paraclete for $30 million in 2006. (When D'Annunzio says he would have to lay off workers under Obama's tax plan, it's not clear what company he's talking about. We were unable to contact him.)

D'Annunzio's other ads are on his Web site. In one, he criticizes Obama's "ultra-liberal stand on abortion" and says, "As a Christian, I cannot vote for Barack Obama." Another focuses on former Weatherman radical Bill Ayers; D'Annunzio says, "I cannot vote for Barack Obama because of his association with terrorists." Yet another skewers Obama for his former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and shows Obama without his hand over his heart during the national anthem. "We can't afford a president that uses racially charged comments to divide us," D'Annunzio says.

North Carolina has somehow become a home base for Obama-bashing independent operators. If you have any insights into why this is, we'd love to hear them. Besides D'Annunzio, the state is home to the Committee for Truth in Politics and RightChange.com, two of the biggest-spending conservative groups on the air.

We'll see soon enough how much money D'Annunzio is willing to commit.

-- Will Evans

8:03 PM ET | 10-22-2008 | permalink

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Bringing Common Sense To The Dakotas

Give 'em props for originality. Common Sense Issues recently launched a radio ad attacking South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson, a Democrat likely to win a race that's been basically ignored by other outside groups and the Beltway crowd.

Common Sense Issues also popped up in August in a nearby but even more unlikely place: North Dakota. That radio ad ridiculed Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), even though he isn't up for re-election till 2012. At least Johnson has a race, of sorts -- NPR political editor Ken Rudin rates it "Strong Democratic." Perhaps Common Sense Issues landed in South Dakota because its executive director, Patrick Davis, used to be executive director of the state Republican Party.

The new radio ad assails Johnson -- in a humorous way -- for voting against tighter regulation of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae while collecting campaign contributions from the mortgage companies. It suggests that listeners "tell Tim Johnson to stop taking money from Washington lobbyists."

Common Sense Issues is best known for its "Trust Huckabee" campaign during the Republican presidential primaries. The group received $50,000 in February from Don Carter, who was the founding owner of the Dallas Mavericks.

A predecessor organization, Common Sense Ohio, created quite a ruckus in 2006. That operation -- which shares some leadership with Common Sense Issues -- ran radio ads and controversial robocalls supporting GOP candidates in that year's hot Senate races. It was bankrolled by Ohio investor and steadfast Republican donor Carl Lindner and Massachusetts anti-abortion, pro-abstinence advocate Raymond Ruddy.

This year, Lindner gave $400,000 to Newt Gingrich's American Solutions for Winning the Future, while Ruddy is the main financier for Born Alive Truth, which is running anti-Obama ads. And Common Sense is relegated to the Dakotas. Times have changed.

-- Will Evans

5:30 PM ET | 10-22-2008 | permalink

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Choose Your Weapon

It's the hunters and the hunted. MoveOn.org uses a wall-mounted moose head in a new TV ad against the McCain-Palin ticket; Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund blames dead polar bears on Sarah Palin; and the National Rifle Assocaition says Obama won't let you defend yourself against criminals.

MoveOn's animated talking moose head tells us, "You really gotta question John McCain's judgment pickin' Sarah Palin as his VP." After making some cracks about Palin's national security experience -- or, as the moose would say, her lack thereof -- the hunter's trophy says, "She may be a little 'trigger-happy' -- I should know." The ad will will run in cities Palin visits over the next two weeks.

Defenders of Wildlife takes the whole animal-killing thing a bit more seriously, after the jump...

Continue reading "Choose Your Weapon" »

8:23 PM ET | 10-21-2008 | permalink

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Jewish Republicans Like Hillary?

If Hillary Clinton had won the Democratic primary, the Republican Jewish Coalition might be quoting Barack Obama. But, as fate would have it, Obama won -- so the RJC says "Hillary is right."

The Republican group has launched a TV ad calling Obama's foreign policy "naive" because he said "I would" when asked if he would be willing to meet with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea. The ad quotes Clinton -- this was back when she and Obama were in the thick of a brutal primary brawl -- saying of Obama, "That was irresponsible and frankly naive." (The question came up at a CNN debate, and stipulated that talks were part of an evolving peace initiative.)

Clinton has moved on, of course. She's campaigning for Obama in Florida -- one of the states where the ad is airing. The million-dollar-plus buy will put the ad in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Nevada as well.

The TV ad is a first for the Republican Jewish Coalition in this cycle. It's already produced a series of print advertisements attacking Obama in Jewish newspapers, often with the slogan, "Concerned about Barack Obama? You should be."

It's a fierce fight for the presidency among Jewish advocacy organizations. The National Jewish Democratic Council has run its own pro-Obama and anti-McCain ads in newspapers. And when the Jewish Council for Education and Research enlisted comedian Sarah Silverman in calling for a "Great Schlep" to help Obama, the Republican Jewish Coalition fired back with a retort by comedian Jackie Mason, who calls Silverman a "yenta," or meddlesome blabbermouth.

-- Will Evans

7:22 PM ET | 10-20-2008 | permalink

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Senate Roundup: The Usual Attacks And A Puzzler

The campaign clock is running down, and it's tough keeping up with the new ads. Here's a new crop from Senate races -- advertisers include the American Future Fund, League of Conservation Voters, Chamber of Commerce, Freedom's Watch and Susan B. Anthony List.

Let's start with one that presents a logical challenge.

The American Future Fund released a new ad in its ongoing campaign against Democratic Senate candidate Mark Udall in Colorado. The ad implies Udall is bad on education, needs a "reality check," and then -- curiously -- urges him to support Senate bill 12.

First of all, the bill was introduced by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in February and hasn't gone anywhere since. Second, the bill's only education provision is an "enhanced charitable deducation for corporate contributions of computer equipment for educational purposes." Third and perhaps most important, Udall is a member of the House of Representatives, not the Senate. He wouldn't be able to vote for S. 12 unless he gets elected, an ambition the American Future Fund hopes to thwart. Right?

Meanwhile, the League of Conservation Voters produced an ad tying Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) to "Big Oil;" Freedom's Watch, in a rare positive ad, boosts Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) as an anti-tax crusader; and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce hits Minnesota Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken on taxes and being funny.

Franken also takes a beating in a radio ad by the Susan B. Anthony List, which supports anti-abortion Republicans. A woman calls in to the "Delusional Politician Hotline" to report an angry, foul-mouthed politician with "funny glasses" -- that would be Franken. The woman is concerned about Franken's support of abortion rights. "'Does sort of make his support of pornography make sense," says the hotline operator. The woman asks fearfully, "Is he -- serious?" The laconic operator responds: "He's a comedian, ma'am."

-- Will Evans

4:40 PM ET | 10-18-2008 | permalink

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Unions Out To Scare Seniors; NRA, To Scare Gun Owners

Unions are working overtime to put Barack Obama over the top in battleground states.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is airing a TV ad accusing John McCain of being "Risky on Social Security." The ad says McCain wants to privatize Social Security, subjecting it to stock-market volatility. One senior says, "We earned that money, now he wants to give it to Wall Street. No way."

Obama's been using this same argument, and Factcheck.org calls it a whopper. According to Factcheck, the plan McCain supports wouldn't affect current retirees, since no one born before 1950 would be allowed to put Social Security taxes in private accounts. AFSCME, however, contends that the plan would hurt the entire Social Security system and so would affect all seniors.

This is AFSCME's first return to TV since the Democratic primaries, when it supported Hillary Clinton against Obama. The ad will run in Wisconsin until close to Election Day, with more than $1 million worth of air time, according to the union.

On another front in the issues war, the AFL-CIO, which includes AFSCME, this week dropped a mailer featuring a union member who says Obama will "protect my gun rights." The mailer went to 80,000 gun-loyal swing voters in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Click on the image to read the mailer:

The union mailer is evidently trying to counteract the National Rifle Assocation's message that Obama wants to take away gun rights. The NRA's new ads after the jump...

Continue reading "Unions Out To Scare Seniors; NRA, To Scare Gun Owners" »

4:06 PM ET | 10-18-2008 | permalink

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PAC Puts Obama And 9/11 Together

(Udate 10/18/08: National Republican Trust PAC just sent out another fundraising email with the subject line "Obama Lies Smashed by Neutron Bomb in Ohio." The "neutron bomb" refers to the PAC's TV ad.)

Tying Obama's policies to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a new political action committee is airing a TV ad in Ohio that calls the Democrat "too radical" and "too risky."

The language of the National Republican Trust's ad echoes attacks used by the McCain campaign. The ad focuses on Obama's support for allowing illegal immigrants to get drivers licenses, an issue that came up in the Democratic primaries. "The 9/11 plot depended on easy-to-get licenses. Obama's plan gives a license to any illegal who wants one," says the voiceover, behind images of 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta's drivers license, the smoking twin towers, and then Obama's face where Atta's used to be. The PAC's treasurer, Peter Leitner, says the ad is running in Ohio.

The PAC was formed last month by a former Defense Department strategist, a freelance journalist and a lawyer who have tried to prove a link between Saddam Hussein and the Sept. 11 attacks.

The National Republican Trust's executive director is Scott Wheeler, who has written for the conservative Cybercast News Service and Insight magazine, published by Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church. His articles include "Iraq-al-Qaida link revealed," "'Dirty-bomb' plot underway in U.S.?" and "Exclusive: Saddam Possessed WMD, Had Extensive Terror Ties."

In his 2003 "Iraq-al-Qaida" piece, Wheeler wrote, "Senior investigators and analysts in the U.S. government have concluded that Iraq acted as a state sponsor of terrorism against Americans and logistically supported the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States."

President Bush and numerous government reports now say there was no link between Iraq and the 2001 strikes.

One of Wheeler's sources for the story was Leitner, who recently retired as a senior strategic trade advisor to the Secretary of Defense.

Leitner and the PAC's assistant treasurer, attorney Joshua Ambush, spearheaded efforts to sue Iraq and Saddam Hussein on behalf of the family of top FBI official John O'Neill, who was killed on Sept. 11.

More from Leitner after the jump...

Continue reading "PAC Puts Obama And 9/11 Together" »

5:22 PM ET | 10-17-2008 | permalink

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Obama As The Tax Man

The upstart RightChange.com is emerging as one of the loudest independent voices in the late stages of the campaign.

The group, formed this year with money from pharmaceutical executives, has spent about $1.4 million on cable TV ads since mid-September, and new ads keep coming. That dollar figure, estimated by the Campaign Media Analysis Group, puts RightChange as one of the most prominent anti-Obama groups out there these days, blowing away the amount of airtime bought by such liberal groups as MoveOn.org, Planned Parenthood and Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund.

In fact, RightChange has carved out a niche as the main group attacking Obama on tax policy -- as opposed to the Iraq war (Vets for Freedom's terrain) or controversial associations (American Issues Project) or abortion (Committee for Truth in Politics.)

Pharmaceutical Product Development CEO Fred Eshelman is so opposed to higher taxes, he dumped another $1.7 million into RightChange this month. That brings his total generosity to nearly $4.5 million. PPD's chair, Ernest Mario, has given $1 million. And last month a third executive chipped in. Robert Ingram, vice chair of pharmaceuticals for GlaxoSmithKline, gave $10,000.

One of RightChange's new ads says Obama's tax plan will "punish small businesses," echoing a talking point that McCain hammered over and over in the final presidential debate.

Another ad says...

Continue reading "Obama As The Tax Man" »

2:22 PM ET | 10-17-2008 | permalink

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When Speeches Come Back To Haunt

Obama said in Wednesday's debate that he would try to find "common ground" on abortion. But his words on the issue to a liberal advocacy group certainly didn't help him with a conservative one.

The new ad from the Family Research Council Action PAC uses a speech Obama gave to Planned Parenthood -- the crowd loved it -- in order to hurt him with pro-life voters.

"The first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act," Obama says at a Planned Parenthood podium. That one sentence -- perhaps not exactly what you'd want to broadcast to swing voters -- has been picked up and distributed widely by many conservative organizations and publications. The ad concludes, "Barack Obama. Dangerous values."

Family Research Council Action's PAC plans to spend $100,000 on TV ads and a radio adaptation this week in Colorado, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. The group is targeting markets and stations where the Matthew 25 Network ran its pro-Obama ads. The aim is to "counteract their message," according to executive director David Nammo. The Matthew 25 Network has sought to promote Obama's Christian credentials. Its most recent ad features conservative Douglas Kmeic, who was legal counsel to President Reagan, arguing that anti-abortion voters should support Obama.

The Family Research Council -- the 501(c)(3) mothership to the FRC Action 501(c)(4) and the PAC -- sprang from the efforts of evangelical leader James Dobson, and it was once a division of Dobson's Focus on the Family. Dobson still sits on the board. Dobson is campaigning for John McCain, and his group recently produced radio ads to hurt Democrats in Senate races in Colorado, Minnesota, Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina.

Info about FRC's financing after the jump....

Continue reading "When Speeches Come Back To Haunt" »

5:01 PM ET | 10-16-2008 | permalink

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Letting Freedom Ring -- Loudly

The conservative advocacy group Let Freedom Ring has been quiet for a while, but apparently it was just saving up for the big clang. The group, which helped turn out battleground-state voters for President Bush in 2004, announced a $5 million ad blitz Tuesday, hitting Obama -- often without even mentioning him -- from nearly every conceivable angle.

One ad, already running in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and Colorado, focuses on legislation that opponents say will eliminate the secret ballot in union elections. The ad features a "man on the street" who thinks the policy would be a violation of privacy. Then comes the cryptic ending, "Decide for yourself, whether you want a president who supports card check, or one who supports free elections."

Unless you look up the candidates' positions on the bill (or read this post) you might not figure out that the bill is cosponsored by Obama and opposed by McCain. Let Freedom Ring probably doesn't get more specific out of respect for the tax code, which limits its ability to get overtly political, but does let it keep its donors secret. Up until now, we only know that retired physician and Republican donor John Templeton Jr. has partially funded the group.

There's also a similarly vague ad promoting the presidential candidate who supports offshore drilling, whoever he or she is.

Let Freedom Ring has produced not just several ads, but multiple series of ads to run from now through the end of October. In the second series, which will start next week with $1.5 million to burn, one ad features the conservative niece of Martin Luther King Jr. and a conservative black pastor arguing that voters (presumably black voters) should vote based on the Bible, not the "color" of the candidate.

Still another ad shows a conservative legal scholar...

Continue reading "Letting Freedom Ring -- Loudly" »

3:00 PM ET | 10-15-2008 | permalink

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PACs To The Rescue In Michigan

John McCain pulled his staff out of Michigan, but his backers aren't ready to give up. Two conservative political action committees are gearing up to sprinkle the state with anti-Obama and pro-McCain-Palin ads.

"We've stepped in to fill the void of the McCain campaign's forced retreat in Michigan, and we're going to put the state's 17 Electoral Votes back in play with our plan to spend over $500,000 in the Great Lake State," reads a recent fundraising plea by Our Country Deserves Better PAC, which was formed this year to defeat Obama.

Meanwhile, the Republican Majority Campaign recently sent out emails to supporters saying, "MICHIGAN NEEDS YOUR HELP! It is up to the rest of us to keep Mr. Obama from a free win in Michigan!"

Our Country Deserves Better promises to run a slew of different ads in Michigan. One recycles a favorite Republican theme: Obama's connections to notorious people. The ad stars former Weatherman radical Bill Ayers, Rev. Jeremiah Wright and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who is headed to jail. "Sorry, Sen. Obama," the ad says. "But if this is the kind of change you want for America, then you can keep the change."

Another ad features the PAC's chairman, former California state assemblyman Howard Kaloogian, telling voters, "Obama says our children must learn Spanish, so they can communicate with illegal aliens."

Other ads that will run in Michigan include one that ties Obama to what it calls the "failed administration" of Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) and one that says Obama will raise taxes.

And finally, the group produced a soaring tribute to Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin, heralding her as a "fighter for America" who's not "intimidated by the liberal media."

Our Country Deserves Better is also...

Continue reading "PACs To The Rescue In Michigan" »

5:42 PM ET | 10-13-2008 | permalink

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Spending Against Spending

Talk about new spending.

The North Carolina pharmaceutical executives funding Rightchange.com are spending freely with yet another ad assailing Obama on cable TV. This one faults Obama for proposing $3.5 trillion in "new spending" over 10 years. The ad calls it "Barack Obama's Bailout." The tab, according to the ad, includes "tax giveaways to people who pay no taxes, new welfare handouts, tax rates as high as 54 percent."

The ad doesn't cite a source for the $3.5 trillion figure, but Factcheck.org notes that one analysis finds "Obama's tax plan would increase the debt by $3.5 trillion by 2018, while McCain's plan would bring about a projected $5 trillion increase in the same time frame." Then again, maybe that's not the study they meant to cite.

-- Will Evans

10:27 PM ET | 10-11-2008 | permalink

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Committee For Misleading In Politics?

Obama has a soft spot in his heart for sex offenders; the Committee for Truth in Politics says so.

The group, as we noted before, was created by a North Carolina GOP operative and is represented by a Republican lawyer in a suit against the Federal Election Commission.

Its new ad shows images of children, followed by a photo of Obama next to an opening prison door. "In the Illinois Senate, Barack Obama was the only member that voted to allow early release for convicted sexual abusers," it says.

Odd move for an ambitious politician? You bet. The Politico reports that Obama did indeed vote in the interests of the little-noticed sex-offender lobby...by accident. He corrected the vote the same day.

As Politico notes, Obama even wrote in his book, The Audacity of Hope, that his advisor, David Axelrod, said the accidental vote would likely be grist for a future attack ad.

Maybe someone at the Committee for Truth in Politics read Obama's book?

-- Will Evans

10:19 PM ET | 10-11-2008 | permalink

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Attacking Democrats Without Leaving A Trace

The American Issues Project, which burst into the presidential campaign in August with multi-million-dollar attack ads tying Barack Obama to former Weatherman radical Bill Ayres, is back.

The group's new million-dollar ad buy, though, takes a very different tack. It blames the economic crisis on congressional Democrats, tracing the meltdown to such "Senate liberals" as Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT). (Note: Reid and Dodd aren't up for reelection.) The ad concludes with the (grammatically iffy) question, "Who should you trust on the economy?" It comes as Democrats, from Obama to Senate and House candidates, seem to rise in the polls every time the Dow Jones falls.

Talk about a brilliant strategy. The ad raises doubts about all Democrats -- "liberals protect corruption" -- without actually naming any candidates. That means the American Issues Project doesn't need to file any papers showing who footed the bill. Because AIP's previous ad attacked Obama, the group had to disclose that Texas billionaire Harold Simmons bankrolled it. An AIP spokesman confirmed that won't be happening this time around.

There's another benefit as well. As a 501(c)(4) group, American Issues Project can do unlimited amounts of issue advocacy but would jeapordize its tax-exempt status if political work became its primary activity. So AIP can say this ad is about issues, not candidates, thereby protecting its tax status, and it can still implicitly criticize candidates at the same time.

The smart strategy is no accident. The group counts as consultants two GOP operatives connected to the most influential conservative groups of the 2004 presidential election. There's Chris LaCivita, who worked with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and Tony Feather, who co-founded Progress for America.

With brains like these, no wonder AIP has figured out how to have its cake and eat it too.

-- Will Evans

4:56 PM ET | 10- 9-2008 | permalink

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October Bombardment, Senate Edition, Colorado Chapter

There are so many Senate ads coming out right now that we had to slice off these Colorado ads for their own post.

The American Future Fund criticizes Democratic Senate candidate Mark Udall for being out of touch and financially unresponsible. AFF blames him for "no real reform, just bickering and bailouts for billionaires," and tells him to get "a reality check."

Campaign Money Watch, on the other hand, suggests Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer has ethics problems by tying him to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The ad says Schaffer defended sweatshops on the Mariana Islands after taking a "luxury trip" there arranged by Abramoff's firm. Back in the '90s, the Marianas government was one of Abramoff's big clients. Here's a more detailed, nonpartisan version of events.

You can check out Campaign Money Watch's funding here. Funders of the group's charitible affiliate include George Soros' Open Society Institute. Now let's take a look at the group's leadership...

Continue reading "October Bombardment, Senate Edition, Colorado Chapter" »

4:39 PM ET | 10- 9-2008 | permalink

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October Bombardment, Part II: Senate Edition

Just as the presidential race is awash with new attack ads, Senate candidates face a crushing wave of messages from outside groups as well. Here, we feature the American Energy Alliance, Americans for Job Security, Freedom's Watch, Health Care for America Now and VoteVets. And they just keep coming. Let's start in Oregon:

Freedom's Watch
The conservative casino magnate-funded group blasts Democratic Senate candidate Jeff Merkley of Oregon on taxes. In the ad, a driver listens to the car radio, which broadcasts a caller on talk radio saying he's upset that Merkley wants to raise taxes. The radio host confirms, "You're right, I saw that on TV." The fictional host may have seen it on TV because Freedom's Watch recently broadcast an another ad about it. So, try to follow this: the TV ad cites a radio caller who is backed up by a radio host who cites a TV ad.

American Energy Alliance
We travel east to Kentucky, where this conservative group with ties to the oil industry is spending $108,000 on a radio ad against Bruce Lunsford, the Democratic challenger to the newly vulnerable Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). The ad blames Lunsford for the Kentucky system of taxing gas, calling it the "Lunsford gas tax." It says, "Nobody likes paying more at the pump -- unless you're Bruce Lunsford." The ad echoes an earlier TV ad by McConnell, which was analyzed by Factcheck.org.

Travel on to New Hampshire and North Carolina...

Continue reading "October Bombardment, Part II: Senate Edition" »

4:18 PM ET | 10- 9-2008 | permalink

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October Bombardment

Here it comes, folks. Outside groups are unleashing a giant barrage of advertising in the presidential and Senate races.

Let's tackle the presidential ads first. Featured below are Health Care for America Now, United Auto Workers, VoteVets, Sierra Club and the National Rifle Association. Whew!

Health Care for America Now
This coalition of unions and liberal groups is spending $1 million a TV ad warning that McCain's health care plan could cause people to lose their insurance. It features a cancer survivor who says of McCain, "He wants me to fight cancer and the insurance companies? Fine. I'll take you both on." The voiceover says, "Ask Senator McCain which side he's on."

It's running on national cable and in Ohio.

United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America
The union is spending $3 million on TV ads in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The slogan: "We can't afford John McCain." One ad features an auto worker who says, "My friends are losing their jobs. His friends are getting bigger tax breaks." Another shows an auto worker with her son, who has asthma. She says, "Sometimes he can't breathe. So health benefits are really important for us. But John McCain? He's going to tax our health benefits."

More ads after the jump...

Continue reading "October Bombardment" »

4:06 PM ET | 10- 9-2008 | permalink

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Citizens Against Government Waste, And For McCain

During the first presidential debate, John McCain ripped into Barack Obama for requesting millions in "earmark pork-barrel spending." Then he gave a high-profile shout-out: "I suggest that people go up on the Web site of Citizens Against Government Waste, and they'll look at those projects."

Citizens Against Government Waste said its Web site traffic shot up to 10 times its usual after McCain's comment, and it quickly returned the favor. The group's political action committee is calling McCain a "taxpayer hero" in TV ads airing over the next two weeks in Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida. The group has never produced TV ads for a presidential candidate before.

The ad says, "In 25 years, McCain never requested a single pork barrel spending project...Barack Obama? $740 million in special interest earmarks in just 3 years." It's a small buy, but the group says it will reach an estimated 930,000 adults.

CAGW gives "taxpayer hero" status to lawmakers who vote with its position at least 80 percent of the time. "Taxpayer superheroes" are those who vote with it 100 percent of the time. For 2007, according to CAGW, McCain got a perfect score, but was "only present for 11 of the 35 Senate votes" at issue, so therefore was "not eligible for the Taxpayer Super Hero Award." McCain has a lifetime rating of 88 percent. Obama is at 22 percent.

McCain and the nonprofit have other ties as well. A Washington Post investigation details the connections, including a CAGW board member -- a Vietnam War POW with McCain -- who volunteered for McCain's campaign. The Post reported that the group recently came to McCain's aid on a controversial policy issue.

Citizens Against Government Waste has been one of the most cited authorities on earmark abuse. It's also been the subject of some criticism. The St. Petersburg Times reported that the organization "has traded on its watchdog reputation by taking money from companies and trade associations and then conducted lobbying and public relations campaigns on their behalf." In its investigation of corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the Democratic staff of the Senate Finance Committee issued a 2006 report that found "a pattern of CAGW producing public relations materials favorable to Mr. Abramoff's clients." CAGW denied it.

McCain, though, has been a steadfast supporter. Over the years, he helped CAGW release its list of earmarks, the Congressional Pig Book. This past April, McCain put out a press release commending the latest Pig Book. "Once again," he said, "My friends at CAGW have done a great job of compiling a comprehensive list of unnecessary and wasteful pork barrel projects. By shedding light on these egregious projects, they are helping to make Congress more accountable to the American people."

-- Will Evans

2:38 PM ET | 10- 9-2008 | permalink

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Democrats As Big Brother?

The National Federation for Independent Business calls itself "the nation's leading small business association." It's also a lobbying powerhouse with an emphatically pro-Republican political action committee.

The NFIB is spending nearly $1 million on TV advertising pounding Democratic Senate candidates in Minnesota and Maine for supporting legislation that would make it easier for workers to unionize. Opponents of the bill say it will take away secret ballots in union elections.

The ads portray Al Franken in Minnesota and Tom Allen of Maine as backing Big Brother-style surveillance of American workers. An undercover agent with a walkie-talkie and a control room with multiple video cameras monitor an ordinary worker entering his workplace. Each ad cites labor contributions to the candidate and concludes, "Give him enough money and American freedoms go right out the window."

NFIB also placed newspaper advertisements opposing the candidates. And it has helped lead and fund the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, which also ran ads against Allen and Franken with the same theme.

Business associations tend to veer conservative, but NFIB has especially strong Republican credentials...

Continue reading "Democrats As Big Brother?" »

3:34 PM ET | 10- 8-2008 | permalink

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McGovern Breaks With Democrats

After Democrat Barack Obama does battle with Republican John McCain tonight, a prominent Obama supporter is scheduled to pop up in the post-debate ad breaks, stating his opposition to pro-union legislation that enjoys the backing of Obama and Democratic leaders.

George McGovern, the 1972 Democratic nominee and now a venerated party elder, appears in minute-long ads by the Employee Freedom Action Committee, which is using criticism of the Employee Free Choice Act as a club to beat on Democratic Senate candidates in several states.

While unions say the bill will make it easier for workers to join a union without corporate harassment, McGovern and industry-backed groups say it will take away secret ballots in union elections, allowing the organizers to intimidate workers.

McGovern says in the ad: "It's hard to believe that any politician would agree to a law denying millions of employees the right to a private vote."

At least at first glance, it's also hard to believe that arch-liberal McGovern would team up with Rick Berman, who runs the Employee Freedom Action Committee. It has got to be one of the oddest of odd couples.

Berman has made a career of attacking liberal activists, Democrat-backed policies and labor unions on behalf of industry. He assisted Newt Gingrich in his climb to become speaker of the House. The Employee Freedom Action Committee is one of several nonprofits set up by Berman to engage in aggressive public relations without indentifying the donors behind them. This year, he's spending $30 million to attack Democratic Senate candidates with ads about the labor bill. His group will spend $2 million airing the McGovern ad in key Senate races in Kentucky, Oregon, Maine, Mississippi, Louisiana, New Hampshire and Colorado. (Another group, the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, is plowing this same anti-union ground in Senate races.)

McGovern, on the other hand, is celebrated at Democratic party gatherings. In a dramatic move this spring, he abandoned Hillary Clinton and endorsed Barack Obama in the name of party unity.

Then again, when McGovern says in the ad, "I've always been a champion of labor unions," it may be a bit of a stretch. (He goes on to say, "But I fear that today's union leaders are turning their backs on democratic workplace elections.") He was a congressman and senator from South Dakota, a right-to-work state that prohibits "closed" union shops. McGovern came out against the Employee Free Choice Act in a Wall Street Journal op-ed in August. He also turns up at the Web site of the FirstJobs Institute, a component in Berman's network.

And not that we believe in grudges, but the record shows that when McGovern was on track to win the nomination in 1972, organized labor did all that it could to stop him.

It's also worth wondering what impact the ad might have tonight -- a presidential nominee from 36 years ago talking about a bill that's pretty much guaranteed to go unmentioned by the 2008 contenders.

-- Will Evans & Peter Overby

2:59 PM ET | 10- 7-2008 | permalink

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Protecting A Republican Incumbent

In North Carolina, where Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole looks newly vulnerable to a national Democratic surge, conservative outside groups are coming to her defense -- predictably, by attacking her Democratic challenger. The groups' ads don't even mention Dole.

Freedom's Watch has a new TV ad painting the Democratic candidate as a tax-and-spender: "Kay Hagan voted for over 50 higher taxes and fees -- on income, birth, medical care, cars, food, even death," the ad says. "Hagan's budgets grew government over 40 percent, almost doubled state debt, and brought economic growth to a halt."

Meanwhile, Americans for Prosperity recently extended a radio ad buy that also hits Hagan on taxes, and adds in criticism over her stance on offshore drilling.

"You know that feeling you get when you fill your tank and your jaw drops when you see the costs," the ad says. "Thank Kay Hagan if those eye-popping gas prices continue for years." Listen here.

Americans for Prosperity has more than passing interest in drilling. Its foundation's chair and founder is David Koch of Koch Industries, which runs oil refining and pipeline companies.

Another Americans for Prosperity Foundation board member is Richard Fink, a Koch executive who serves as a director of the refining subsidiary. Fink helps control AFP's purse strings. He is president of the Koch-affiliated Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, which gave AFP's foundation $2.2 million from 2005-06, according to the Foundation Center.

-- Will Evans

3:30 PM ET | 10- 6-2008 | permalink

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Jim Bopp's Fight To Liberate Political Money

No sooner had we noted that conservative attorney James Bopp seemed to be setting up to sue the Federal Election Commission over an anti-abortion, anti-Obama ad, we got this news: Bopp sued the FEC Friday over an anti-abortion, anti-Obama ad.

Only, it's not the National Right to Life Committee ad we were writing about.

Turns out the indefatigable Bopp also represents the Committee for Truth in Politics, recently formed by a North Carolina Republican operative. Bopp is suing to protect the group from any FEC enforcement actions that might prevent it from running its ads -- even though the FEC hasn't done anything yet and isn't likely to take any action till after the election.

Bopp did essentially the same thing earlier this year on behalf of another group, a 527 called The Real Truth About Obama. That group has also targeted Obama's record on abortion, but its ads haven't run yet.

Bopp won't say whether it all ads up to a coordinated legal strategy. But the three simultaneous efforts hammer home his view of federal campaign finance laws: that they chill free speech if you have to ask permission from a slow-moving government agency, or get a preliminary injunction against the agency, before you air a political ad -- or else face the threat of fines later.

"We have clients that want to do real things," he says. "There's all sorts of people out there that want to participate in our democracy...They don't want to suffer a future investigation and enforcement action when the Constitution protects what they do."

Those who want to regulate political money, of course, see it differently. They say Bopp and his clients want to tear down the legal walls that keep big donors, corporations and undisclosed contributions from having undue electoral influence. And the legal walls are hardly rigid. The McCain-Feingold law made them stronger in 2002. But Bopp blew a new hole in them last year, as lawyer for Wisconsin Right To Life -- just his latest of many victories.

Meanwhile, the Committee for Truth in Politics says in its lawsuit that it's got another hard-hitting ad to let loose. To quote from the ad:

It's tragic, but true. Two-thirds of all prisoners convicted of rape or sexual assault committed their crime against a child. Even worse, the average child predator exploits seven to two hundred victims in their lifetime. In the Illinois Senate, Barack Obama was the only member that voted to allow early release for convicted sexual abusers.

More after the jump...

Continue reading "Jim Bopp's Fight To Liberate Political Money" »

9:29 PM ET | 10- 4-2008 | permalink

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Anti-Obama Abortion Ads Latest Cause For GOP Lawyer

Republican attorney James Bopp, the one-man wrecking crew against the McCain-Feingold campaign finance system, is at it again.

Bopp, representing the National Right to Life Committee, recently wrote to the Federal Election Commission asking if the regulatory system will allow the committee to run radio ads critical of Obama. But when an agency gets a letter like that from Bopp, it's usually the prelude to a lawsuit. He has a history of using advocacy ads as test cases to chip away at campaign reform laws he argues are unconstitutional. And he's very good at it.

Bopp, however, tell us his letter isn't leading up to anything. All he wants, he says, is the go-ahead to run the ads. "We want to run these ads -- and we don't want to go to jail," he said.

(Not that he loves GOP nominee John McCain, whose name is on the law Bopp lives to destroy. In the Republican primary, Bopp joined forces with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.)

The radio ad recounts a dispute between the anti-abortion organization and Obama over a bill he voted against that would have given legal protection to aborted fetuses showing signs of life. Citing a Factcheck.org analysis that vindicates some of National Right to Life's allegations and calls Obama "wrong," the ad says, "Will Obama now apologize for calling us liars when we were the ones telling the truth? Barack Obama: a candidate whose word you can't believe in."

More after the jump...

Continue reading "Anti-Obama Abortion Ads Latest Cause For GOP Lawyer" »

10:00 PM ET | 10- 3-2008 | permalink

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New Group Adds To Din On Obama's Abortion Record

A brand-new nonprofit organization with a classic attack-group name is airing TV ads in battleground states knocking Obama on his abortion stance.

The Committee for Truth in Politics, which was incorporated just one week ago in North Carolina, is running the ad in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin [and North Carolina]. Showing images of a cooing, yawning baby, the ad says, "Sen. Obama, why did you vote against protecting infants that survive late-term abortions, not once but four times?" It concludes, "Call Senator Obama. Tell him to stop trying to overturn these basic human rights."

The ad echoes the recent message of Born Alive Truth, an Illinois 527 organization.

The incorporator and sole director of the Committee for Truth is NC attorney Bill Peaslee, formerly the chief of staff, legal counsel and political director for the North Carolina Republican Party.

This year he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention. He told the Charlotte Observer that his first choice for president was Mike Huckabee: "Is (McCain) the candidate I wanted? No. But I'll vote for him. And I know he's going to be a lot better than Barack Obama."

Peaslee also incorporated another group at the same time as the Committee for Truth in Politics. It's called the Committee for a Balanced Congress.

-- Will Evans

2:23 PM ET | 10- 3-2008 | permalink

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Pharmaceutical Money Flows To Anti-Obama 527

RightChange.com, a conservative 527 group funded by two pharmaceutical executives, has unleashed a volley of attack ads bashing Obama on economic issues.

The group just reported $2.7 million in contributions from its president, Fred Eshleman, CEO of PPD, a pharmaceutical research firm in North Carolina. PPD's chairman, Ernest Mario, gave an additional $1 million. Mario also runs Capnia Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based company developing a system to treat migraines using medical gas.

RightChange.com's other directors also have connections to the health industry. Board member Jeff Barnhart is CEO of Cabarrus Community Health Centers, which RightChange's corporate secretary, Fletcher Hartsell, helped found. Both Barnhart and Hartsell are Republican state legislators in North Carolina.

One of RightChange's new ads mocks Obama's rallying cry of "Yes we can." It says, "Will his tax plan reduce wages for millions of workers 17 percent?" Cut to a clip of Obama shouting his slogan. "Will Obama really raise taxes on tens of thousands of middle-class workers?" Roll the clip again.

RightChange is a political newcomer. It seemed to come out of nowhere last month, first with a bizarre ad most memorable for its bungee cord, then with a direct assault on Obama. And now this barrage.

More ads and fact-checking after the jump...

Continue reading "Pharmaceutical Money Flows To Anti-Obama 527" »

3:10 PM ET | 10- 2-2008 | permalink

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It's All About The Supreme Court

Isaac Newton told us that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This week he's looking like a political pundit.

Right after the liberal People for the American Way launched a radio campaign criticizing McCain on Supreme Court picks he might make, the conservative Judicial Conservation Network has gone on TV hitting Obama on his prospective Supreme Court nominees.

The Judicial Confirmation Network warns that the next president could pick four new justices. (We hope none of the current nine feel hurt that they're being slated for death or retirement.) The ad then segues into a popular conservative theme: Obama's now-infamous connections to corrupt developer Tony Rezko, former Weatherman Bill Ayres and Reverend Jeremiah Wright. "Obama chose to associate with these men," the voiceover says, "while voting against these men [President Bush's Supreme Court picks Samuel Alito and John Roberts]."

The $550,000 ad buy is set to run in Michigan and Ohio and on national cable, the Network says.

The Judicial Confirmation Network is run by Gary Marx, an organizer for President Bush's 2004 campaign and former head of the Virginia Christian Coalition. Its legal counsel, Wendy Long, clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and worked for two Republican senators. Both Marx and Long were members of a National Faith and Values Steering Committee for Mitt Romney's presidential primary campaign earlier this year.

Conservative pundit James Hirsen serves on the Judicial Confirmation Network's board. Republican Bob Schaffer, now running for Senate, is the organization's Colorado chairman.

People for the American Way and the Judicial Confirmation Network are usually heard from during the Senate nominating debates. The presidential campaign gives them a chance to tune up.

-- Will Evans

6:43 PM ET | 10- 1-2008 | permalink

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Evangelical Leader Goes All In For McCain

And to think that anyone thought James Dobson would sit out this presidential race.

The Christian Right leader and his advocacy group, Focus on the Family Action, are planning a multi-state strategy to help elect McCain, and to prevent Democratic gains in Congress while they're at it.

The group's September newsletter spells out some nightmare scenarios it says could happen with an Obama adminisration: Supreme Court Justice Hillary Clinton; open homosexuality in the barracks; a Freedom of Choice Act invalidating all abortion limitations.

The newsletter then explains the group's action plan for defeating Obama: 1. Harness the media with crafty "marketing ingenuity." 2. Directly target voters "in a big way in up to 16 states with key U.S. Senate and House races." That will include mailers, emails and "carefully targeted radio ads."

Click on the image for the full newsletter:

For the mailers, Focus on the Family Action has prepared special messages for battleground states. In the Colorado version, for example, Dobson writes:

As a Colorado voter, you are right in the middle of one of the most important and closely watched Senate races in the country. The stakes in this contest could not be higher. If Barack Obama wins the White House -- a very real possibility -- the U.S. Senate will be the last defense against his liberal agenda on abortion and marriage. Sen. Obama has already promised to support the Freedom of Choice Act, which would overturn every pro-life law on abortion in the nation. He has also pledged to abolish the Defense of Marriage Act and to allow open homosexuality in our military. The only hope of stopping this radical onslaught will be a strong showing of commonsense conservatives in the Senate.

Of the Senate candidates, Dobson writes that Republican Bob Schaffer "maintained a consistently pro-life and pro-family record in Congress" while Democrat Mark Udall "established an audaciously liberal record." An accompanying chart contrasts their views on marriage, abortion and taxes. Click on the image below to view the mailer:

Similar mailers lambast Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Democratic Senate candidates Al Franken of Minnesota and Kay Hagan of North Carolina. Still other mailers target House races in Texas, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Michigan and Florida -- all with an emphasis on Obama. View them here.

It's unclear, however, how many of these mailers will go out. The September member newsletter contains this postscript:

You should be aware that contributions have been well below budget all summer, which has put us in a position where we may have to scale back some of the plans I've mentioned. Your gift now, however, can still help ensure that we are able to go full force with the full plan -- right up to November 4.

Dobson's money plea, plus that suggestion of a black-robed Hillary Clinton on the high bench, constitute an admirable piece of the direct-mail writer's craft.

-- Will Evans

1:56 PM ET | 10- 1-2008 | permalink

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September Saw Smorgasbord Of Attack Ads

New ads and new groups burst onto TV screens in September. Independent groups bought about $23 million worth of election-oriented airtime during the month, according to the Campaign Media Analysis Group. Let's take a look back...

T. Boone Pickens has been burning a hole in his pocket, if not the ozone. After he bought more than $5 million worth of airtime in September for his campaign advocating wind power and natural gas, we wondered whether Boone would go dark -- he was hit with big financial losses at his day job. Now the wondering is over. Boone spent nearly another million dollars on advertising on the day of the presidential debate last week to propel viewers to his plan.

Boone, a longtime Republican mega-donor, recently said something we never though we'd hear him say: "Whether you're supporting the Democrat or the Republican, I don't care."

Most of the other groups buying airtime tend to care a lot more.

On the left, the Service Employees International Union is the top spender in the presidential race, with $1.3 million in airtime attacking McCain on the economy.

On the right, the prize goes to newcomer Rightchange.com, which spent nearly $900,000 on an obtuse anti-Obama ad and just announced a new one. The 527 is run by Republican state legislators in North Carolina and a pharmaceutical executive who provides the funding.

The runner-up on the right is Vets For Freedom, which spent close to $600,000 on ads critical of Obama in September. The latest of the group's increasingly hard-hitting ads accuses Obama of having "skipped" 45 percent of Senate votes while managing "to show up to vote against emergency funding for our troops." As usual for VFF, the ad is worded to be about legislation -- a Senate resolution praising the surge -- rather than about the White House race. Still, the ad makes several points that mirror a McCain campaign attack ad, which was deconstructed by Factcheck.org. Vets For Freedom plans a $2.2 million national buy -- starting with heavy emphasis on California, a state that has been considered a sure bet for Obama.

You don't always need to spend a lot to get a lot of attention. Both MoveOn.org and Born Alive Truth got a big bang this month for few bucks. But Brave New Films is probably the best example. The political film company created a ruckus with an ad focusing on McCain's skin cancer. The ad was so hot it was rejected by CNN, bashed by Fox and dropped after a debut on MSNBC. Airtime cost: $5,000. Attention: priceless.

Check out Senate ads after the jump...

Continue reading "September Saw Smorgasbord Of Attack Ads" »

9:55 PM ET | 09-30-2008 | permalink

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Enough With The Bungee-Jumping. Let's Attack.

It was just two weeks ago that RightChange.com from North Carolina ran this cryptic ad: Ordinary Joe stops traffic on bridge, delivers tax rant over bullhorn, then falls over the side... to be saved by the Bungee Cord of Magical Realism.

RightChange's real message was at its website: It says Barack Obama's tax plans are bad for Americans. And now the group has put message on the air, and in a much harsher -- and more slippery -- delivery than what appears online. A hasty viewing of the ad gives the impression that in an Obama administration, small businesses would pay tax rates of 62 percent.

RightChange presents this as a nationwide ad buy. We'll see later how much money they commit to it. The group intends to sidestep restrictions on campaign-season ads by telling viewers to call Obama's Senate office if they're unhappy with his presidential campaign.

-- Peter Overby

11:22 AM ET | 09-30-2008 | permalink

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Anti-Estate Tax Group Pounds Louisiana Democrat

A group that has fought against the estate tax for years just launched its first TV ad of the election season, against the only endangered Democratic Senate incumbent, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana.

The American Family Business Institute, blames Landrieu for opposing oil exploration and supporting the estate tax, which conservatives call the "death tax." The ad says, "We're ready to get to work, ready to hire, ready to explore, ready to drill. But Mary Landrieu stands in the way." (A Chamber of Commerce ad, incidentally, has recently praised Landrieu's record on energy exploration.)

Formed in 1994, the institute's sole aim is the death of the estate tax. In the past, it received $500,000 from Raymond Harbert, heir to a construction fortune who runs an Alabama-based investment firm. Harbert served as the institute's "funding chairman," but apparently is no longer with the group. Portfolio magazine currently profiles Habert as a leader of a "shareholder assault" on the New York Times Company.

More information after the jump...

Continue reading "Anti-Estate Tax Group Pounds Louisiana Democrat" »

6:19 PM ET | 09-29-2008 | permalink

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Anti-Abortion Group Targets Democratic Senate Hopefuls

Enter the conservative values voters. The Susan B. Anthony List has rolled out more radio ads targeting Democratic candidates for Senate in battleground states. The ads run on Christian radio, telling listeners that the Democrats -- in that catchphrase of the social right -- don't "share our values."

An ad lambasting Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO), running for Senate in one of the hottest races in the country, features a mother and daughter getting coffee:

Daughter: I'll have a large, no-foam, triple, skim latte. Mom?
Mother: (chuckles) I don't even know how to order here. (sighs) I feel sick anyway.
Daugher: (impatiently) What now?
Mom: It's that Mark Udall fellow...Do you know he voted to allow partial birth abortions six times?
Daughter: Abortion in the ninth month? That will make you sick.

The mother and daughter also show up for coffee in North Carolina, where the mother is sick about Kay Hagan, who's challenging Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole. That race is surprisingly tight right now.

The List also has new ads against Senate candidates Bruce Lunsford in Kentucky and Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire, plus incumbent Mary Landrieu (D-LA). Listen to them here.

The Susan B. Anthony List exists to promote anti-abortion Republican women candidates. It was formed after the 1992 elections, when EMILY's List helped to elect a large contingent of pro-choice Democratic women to Congress. It stumbled and reorganized in 1997 as 501(c)(4) advocacy group with attached political action committee.

The leadership is thick with political connections and experience. Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president, formerly worked as staff director for the Congressional Pro-life Caucus. The executive committee is chaired by Cesar Conda, a former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, and Barbara Comstock, a well-known political consultant whom the Washington Post once called a "one-woman wrecking crew targeting Democratic leaders" when she worked for the Republican National Committee. The committee includes the wives of several GOP lawmakers and consultants.

-- Will Evans

3:51 PM ET | 09-29-2008 | permalink

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Clarion Responds, As New Details Emerge About "Radical Islam" DVD

We had a story on the air this morning about the mass distribution of an inflamatory DVD on radical Islam, which critics say is intended to help John McCain's presidential bid. The video documentary was blasted out by the Clarion Fund, an obscure New York-based charity.

Clarion wouldn't return our phone calls before the story aired. But today it hired a PR firm, which quickly issued this statement in response to our story:

The Clarion Fund has one goal: educate the public about the threat of Islamic terrorism. Obsession is the film opponents of free speech don't want you to see. Terrorist attacks don't distinguish between political parties- they kill everyone. America needs to know the truth about the threat without censorship.

Clarion's new voice is Hank Sheinkopf, a long-time Democratic consultant in New York, who worked on President Clinton's re-election campaign. The choice of a Democratic flak is a smart move, since critics have said Clarion is covertly trying to help elect Republican McCain. That kind of active political work would violate its 501(c)(3) charity exemption.

As we reported, one of the promoters of the DVD is Joe Wierzbicki, who is active in two anti-Obama political action committees.

One group, Move America Forward, recently produced an ad we already showcased. The other, Our Country Deserves Better PAC, just put up a Web video contending that Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin has more executive experience than Barack Obama. "All Barack Obama has ever run," it says, "has been his mouth." The video, which runs over 3 minutes, goes into a blooper reel of Obama's gaffes, tongue-tied moments and controversial comments.

More after the jump...

Continue reading "Clarion Responds, As New Details Emerge About "Radical Islam" DVD" »

7:42 PM ET | 09-26-2008 | permalink

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Freedom's Watch Skewers Dem With His Own Words

It was only last April that a New York Times headline said of Freedom's Watch, "Great Expectations for a Conservative Group Seem All but Dashed." But the group seems like it's on a roll these days.

True, it's not active in the presidential race as was originally expected. But it's advertising in several House and Senate races. This month alone, it spent about $600,000 this month bashing the Democratic Senate candidates in Oregon and Colorado. We've already looked at the new ad in Colorado. Now here's the latest by Freedom's Watch in Oregon.

The ad showcases a clip of Democratic challenger Jeff Merkley saying, "I advocate for tax hikes every night in living rooms across Oregon." This soundbite is so sweet, the ad runs it three times in 30 seconds. Merkley's opponent, Republican incumbent Gordon Smith had already used it in an attack ad of his own.

But when Smith's ad went up, a reporter for the Oregonian called it a "pretty clever case of selective editing," because Merkley was actually talking about closing tax loopholes on corporations and the wealthy.

Ah, details.

-- Will Evans

12:00 PM ET | 09-26-2008 | permalink

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Trash-Talking The Colorado Senate Contenders

It's a tough choice for Colorado's Senate seat. There's Democrat Mark Udall, who won't protect us against terrorists. And then there's Republican Bob Schaffer, who doesn't care if sweatshop workers are forced to have abortions. Must be true, right? It said so on TV...

Two harsh new ads are out in the red-hot Senate race, one from casino-magnate-funded Freedom's Watch hitting Udall and the other from union-funded Patriot Majority taking on Schaffer.

The Freedom's Watch ad starts with scenes of gun-toting crowds and flag-burning in the Mideast: "Radical Islamic terrorists. They hate us, and want us to die. We have to be strong, and ready. But Mark Udall? He voted no on the Patriot Act; no to funding body armor; no to strenthening border security." Just to make things clear, the ad throws in images of the leaders of Iran and North Korea, plus Osama bin Laden, whom the ad places in crosshairs.

The ad comes on the heels of a mass mailing of DVDs by another group, warning of radical Islam. Though the DVDs didn't mention candidates, the issue is clearly just one step away from an attack ad.

Check out Patriot Majority's anti-Schaffer ad after the jump...

Continue reading "Trash-Talking The Colorado Senate Contenders" »

2:00 PM ET | 09-25-2008 | permalink

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NRA Aims Ad Campaign At Obama, Biden

The National Rifle Association has launched an aggressive multi-media campaign against Obama, saying he "would be the most anti-gun president in American history."

The campaign, tuned to reach voters in swing states, includes an arsenal of TV, radio and print ads, all available on this website featuring a not-so-flattering photo of Obama.

One TV ad slips in a subtle not-one-of-us message, as a Virginia hunter says, "Now I learn that Barack Obama supports a huge new tax on my guns and ammo...Where is this guy from? He's probably never been hunting a day in his life."

Another features a veteran of the war in Iraq saying, "I served my country on the battlefield to protect our freedoms. There's no way I'm voting for a president who will take them away."

By the way, Factcheck.org says the NRA distorts Obama's positions.

More after the jump...

Continue reading "NRA Aims Ad Campaign At Obama, Biden" »

12:04 AM ET | 09-23-2008 | permalink

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New Group Tied To Oil Industry Runs Ads Promoting Drilling, Attacking Democrat

A new advocacy organization with strong ties to the oil industry is funding pro-drilling radio ads, including one criticizing the energy votes of Colorado Democratic Senate candidate Mark Udall.

The recently formed American Energy Alliance is run by Thomas Pyle, a former aide to Republican Tom DeLay who recently lobbied for the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association and Koch Industries.

The group supports free-market energy policies, including increased offshore oil drilling. Its ad says, "Gas prices are hurting Colorado families. But Congressman Mark Udall has voted 34 times against additional energy exploration and production." The ad cost nearly $200,000 according to the group's government filing.

The Alliance also has a new radio ad praising Mississippi's Republican senators, and previously ran ads against Udall and his cousin, Democratic New Mexico Senate candidate Tom Udall.

American Energy Alliance is an offshoot of the Institute for Energy Research, also run by Pyle, who served as a policy analyst for Delay when he was House majority whip. A 501(c)(3) organization, the Institute received $95,000 from ExxonMobil in 2007 and $65,000 the year before. ExxonMobil is no longer a funder, according to the organization. The Institute is also running radio ads promoting drilling.

The Institute has also received money from the Brown Foundation, which was started by the founders of the construction and energy company Brown & Root; the Searle Freedom Trust, funded by the late conservative philanthropist Daniel Searle; and the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, which is run by executives of Koch Industries, an oil industry giant.

Wayne Gable, who lobbied for Koch Industries along with Pyle, is on the board of both the Institute and the Alliance. Koch is also behind the conservative group Americans for Prosperity, which has run pro-drilling ads in Senate races.

Several staff members of the Insitute, including Pyle and American Energy Alliance board member Lisa Wallace, previously worked for former Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), who ran the House Committee on Resources and was an arch enemy of environmentalists.

-- Will Evans

6:21 PM ET | 09-22-2008 | permalink

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Abortion Issue Pops Up In Senate Races Too

Abortion is already getting plenty of play in the presidential race. One group is injecting the issue in key Senate races, too.

Susan B. Anthony's List, the anti-EMILY's List, is running radio ads on Christian stations criticizing Democrats for their views on abortion. The group was founded in 1992 and aims to promote pro-life women in politics -- or, as these ads make clear, criticize pro-choice women in politics.

One ad, shown below, criticizes Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) for supporting Roe v. Wade. "With millions of unborn lives at stake," it says, "tell Mary Landrieu it's time to vote to protect unborn children, for a change."

Other ads link North Carolina Senate candidate Kay Hagan and Minnesota Senate candidate Al Franken to "radical pro-abortion groups" who want to "overturn the ban on gruesome partial birth abortions." Listen to the Hagan ad here and the Franken ad here.

Yet another ad blasts New Hampshire Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen for being "a former board member of a pro-abortion group" that wants to "'force you to pay for abortions with your tax dollars." Listen here.

Susan B. Anthony List is a 501(c)(4) with an affiliated political action committee. It has plans for get-out-the-vote efforts in presidential battleground states. And the group really likes Sarah Palin.

-- Will Evans

3:00 PM ET | 09-20-2008 | permalink

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Culture War Ads Coming Your Way

Even earlier in the cycle than we expected, independent groups are increasingly fighting the presidential race on issues of faith and abortion.

We've had Born Alive Truth attacking Obama and Catholics United attacking McCain.

Now we have a new nonprofit group affiliated with the New York chapter of NARAL Pro-Choice America running anti-McCain ads; the Knights of Columbus criticizing Democrat VP candidate Joe Biden; and a new radio ad burnishing Obama's Christian credentials. It's the cultural battleground of the battleground states, so expect more.

The new group, with the curious name Winning Message Action Fund, shares leadership and an address with NARAL Pro-Choice New York. Its ad quotes McCain saying he opposes Roe v. Wade, then says, "We have questions, John McCain: Will you stand by if states put women in jail? If women are forced back into back alleys?"

The ad is running in Philadelphia through a service that allows ordinary donors to buy air time for as little as $50. The group also has a website that headlines: "If abortion is made illegal the woman having one will be a criminal. How much time should she do?" (Usually, the answer in anti-abortion legislation is no time at all; the doctors are prosecuted and the woman is considered a victim.)

The organization was incorporated this year by board members of New York's NARAL. It was formed as the advocacy arm of the National Institute for Reproductive Health, an affiliate of NARAL NY. Kelli Conlin is the president of all three groups.

More ads and analysis after the jump...

Continue reading "Culture War Ads Coming Your Way" »

6:03 PM ET | 09-19-2008 | permalink

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Pro-Drilling Group Goes After Republican

Sometimes, even in the hyper-partisan landscape of attack ads, principles can trump party.

The American Future Fund believes in drilling (here and now). And though Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss is a Republican, and though he is up for reelection, AFF won't let him stand in the way. In what appears to be its first effort against a Republican candidate, the group is running a radio ad targeting Chambliss and Georgia's other senator for supporting the "Gang of 10" compromise with Democrats over energy legislation.

Chambliss has already taken a lot of heat from Rush Limbaugh and other conservatives for playing nice with the other side. Chambliss probably needn't worry, though -- the Cook Political Report rates the race "solid Republican."

The AFF ad says the bipartisan compromise plan will impose energy taxes, discouraging oil exploration and costing jobs. The group is running similar ads against Republican Sens. John Thune of South Dakota and Bob Corker of Tennessee (neither is up for reelection), as well as one against Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA).

-- Will Evans

3:11 PM ET | 09-18-2008 | permalink

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U.S. Chamber Hammers Mark Udall Yet Again

Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO) is the lucky recipient of a third and more-hard-hitting-than-ever attack ad from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

This one portrays Udall as a friend of Iran and Venezuela for his votes against U.S. oil exploration. (Udall now supports some new drilling, but that just gets him tarred by his opponent as "U-Turn Udall," which this ad echoes.) The ad concludes, "Every time he's blocked American energy production, he's made the tyrants and sheiks happy. But we've paid the price."

The Chamber of Commerce certainly has paid a price.

It has spent more than $3 million on ads in Senate races since late August, mostly helping Republicans and hurting Democrats. The exception is in Louisiana, where the Chamber spent all of $66,000 supporting Senate Democrat Mary Landrieu. In contrast, the Chamber had already spent $450,000 against Udall before this ad came out, according to the Campaign Media Analysis Group.

-- Will Evans

3:09 PM ET | 09-18-2008 | permalink

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Spanish-Language Ads Bash Obama, Support McCain

UPDATE 09/17/08: Read transcripts of the Americas Majority ads here.

A Kansas Republican activist known for controversial ads targeting minority groups is producing numerous Spanish-language radio and TV advertisements criticizing Obama and supporting McCain.

Richard Nadler runs Americas Majority, a 501c4 organization that produced several radio ads for broadcast next week in Wisconsin, Iowa, Kentucky and Ohio. The group also has TV ads scheduled to run in Wisconsin.

The ads criticize Obama for his votes on Latin American free trade agreements, his opposition to school vouchers, and his position on corporate taxes. One ad, accusing Obama of "playing games" with immigration reform, says in Spanish, "Call Senator Obama. Tell him that we need comprehensive immigration reform now -- not delays that endanger millions of Latinos."

On the flip side, Nadler is also behind PLR PAC, a political action committee founded this year to "promote support for Republican candidates among Latino voters." The PAC's Spanish-language ads boost McCain by positioning him as the Republican who stood up to real "enemies" like anti-illegal immigration crusader Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO).

Nadler won't say where Americas Majority gets its funding, but records show it received $280,000 from Americas Pac in 2006. Nadler founded Americas Pac, a 527 organization, and now serves as its treasurer; it received $100,000 in 2008 from Wisconsin businessman Terry Kohler, who formerly served on the Republican National Committee and has been a financial backer of the Club for Growth. In 2006, Americas Pac received $900,000 from Woodland Group LLC, which has been tied to the late insurance executive and conservative donor-activist J. Patrick Rooney.

More after the jump...

Continue reading "Spanish-Language Ads Bash Obama, Support McCain" »

10:47 AM ET | 09-17-2008 | permalink

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Vets For Freedom Keeps After Obama -- But It's Not Political

Vets For Freedom has a new ad in what's become a series, playing up Barack Obama's opposition to the Iraq surge strategy. A consultant to VFF says it's a national cable buy of $400,000.

The ad contrasts Obama's assessments of the surge with those of Gen. David Petraeus. But then it seems to pull its punch. Instead of a closing line like "Barack Obama: Wrong On The Surge, Wrong On Iraq" (hang around campaigns long enough and you can learn to write this way too), the ad tells viewers to tell Obama to support Senate Resolution 636.

Huh?

Legislative and tax intricacies after the jump....

Continue reading "Vets For Freedom Keeps After Obama -- But It's Not Political" »

10:36 AM ET | 09-17-2008 | permalink

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U.S. Chamber Piles On In Union Issue

When it comes to the union secret ballot issue, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wants a piece of the action, too.

There are already two groups targeting Democrats with ads saying they will restrict workers' rights by taking away secret ballots in union elections.

Now comes the Chamber, with an ad taking on the Democratic Senate candidate Mark Udall in Colorado. He supports the pro-union bill. The ad shows people on the street calling the measure "outrageous," "an invasion of our privacy," and "against our rights and liberties."

But don't worry, Mark. They're probably not all Colorado voters, since the same faces show up in an identical ad against Minnesota Democrat Al Franken.

Parenthetically, the Chamber has issues with Udall's cousin too. It has an ad criticizing the energy votes of Rep. Tom Udall (D-NM), who is also running for Senate.

And one other thing: Recognize that serious voice in the background? It's the same one starring in ads by the American Future Fund and American Issues Project. Who is that guy?

-- Will Evans

2:56 PM ET | 09-16-2008 | permalink

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Conservatives Work Tax Angle in NH

Conservative groups are betting they can bring down New Hampshire Democratic Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen by making her name synonymous with taxes.

There was the Chamber of Commerce ad calling the former governor a "taxing machine." Then came the Americans for Job Security ad -- all about taxes.

And now Club for Growth has an ad running this message: "As governor, Shaheen enacted the first statewide property tax, proposed the first-ever sales tax, said she would sign the first state income tax."

Talk about staying on message.

-- Will Evans

2:33 PM ET | 09-16-2008 | permalink

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Anti-Abortion Group Targets Obama

A new Illinois-based 527 organization called Born Alive Truth has launched a TV ad attacking Obama on the issue of abortion.

The ad features Gianna Jessen, who was born after a failed abortion and who says, "If Barack Obama had his way, I wouldn't be here." It goes on to criticize Obama for votes he made in the Illinois legislature. Here's the FactCheck.org analysis of the issue.

The 527, formed this year, is led by an Illinois anti-abortion activist, Jill Stanek, who gave congressional testimony in favor of the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, which President Bush signed in 2002. Also on the group's board is Dennis Cortes, a managing director at the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald. Cortes heads a small, family-run nonprofit called Current Links in Education, which develops educational materials on American government and the constitution. A third board member is Hadley Arkes, an Amherst College professor known for his work on the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act.

When Bush signed the Act, he thanked Arkes, Stanek and Jessen by name.

The group's public relations firm has worked for the Republican National Committee and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

The ad will run in Ohio and New Mexico. Read more information on the group, after the jump...

Continue reading "Anti-Abortion Group Targets Obama" »

9:50 AM ET | 09-16-2008 | permalink

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Man Jumps From Bridge -- Doesn't Like Obama's Tax Plan

Well, this ad gets points for originality. A guy with a megaphone starts ranting:"Change -- yeah politicians promise change." He's on top of a bridge and gets so worked up that he stands precariously on the edge of it, saying, "Politicians are playing us for fools...and we're supposed to fall for it again?"

Then he falls, screaming, to the depths below...until the Bungee Cord Of Truth catches him and he says, dangling, "Change? Before you fall for it, get the facts."

If you didn't know that was an ad against Obama, you will find out soon enough if you go to RightChange.com, promoted at the end of the ad. There you will find "10 Things You Need to Know About Senator Obama's Tax Proposals." (None of them is good.)

The Web site cites the nonpartisan source FactCheck.org to attest to Obama's "willingness to raise taxes" -- which might be amusing to FactCheck, since the cite is taken out of context from a report on how McCain distorts Obama's positions. Other FactCheck.org reports contradict some RightChange.com assertions.

Anyway...RightChange.com is a 527 group formed in North Carolina this year after changing its name from Real Debate.org. Its president is Fred Eshelman, CEO of a pharmaceutical research firm. The Associated Press reports that Eshelman also bankrolls the group. Eshelman certainly can handle it -- he once gave $20 million to a university pharmacy program.

Other board members include two North Carolina Republican state legislators, Fletcher Hartsell and Jeffrey Barnhart.

-- Will Evans

9:40 AM ET | 09-16-2008 | permalink

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Controversial Pro-Business Group Targets Dems

Americans for Job Security -- a pro-business advocacy organization with a long record of running election-season ads without disclosing donors -- is targeting Democratic Senate candidates in three key races with negative radio messages.

One ad blames Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) for rampant "pork-barrel spending," and accuses her of trading an earmark for campaign contributions. Another says that Minnesota Senate candidate Al Franken's economic plan "reads like a bad joke." Yet another warns that New Hampshire Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen is all about taxes, taxes, taxes.

The ads cost nearly $300,000 in all, according to recent filings. Listen to them here.

The organization's president, Stephen DeMaura, is no stranger to New Hampshire politics. Until recently, he was executive director of the NH Republican Party.

And the group itself is no stranger to complaints. Last year, the liberal group Public Citizen called on the Internal Revenue Service to revoke AJS's tax status. And a previous anti-Shaheen ad drew a formal complaint by the NH Democratic Party to the Federal Election Commission.

AJS started in the 1990s with funding from the American Insurance Association and the American Forest and Paper Association, but neither we nor anyone else (besides the group) know where it's gotten money recently.

-- Will Evans

10:23 AM ET | 09-15-2008 | permalink

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Group Recycles 'Drill Here, Drill Now' Slogan

The American Future Fund's new ad may not mention the Republican presidential nominee by name, but it sure echoes a McCain refrain.

The ad, which is scheduled to run on national cable for a week, promotes oil drilling as the solution to high gas prices. Set to ominous background music, it ends with this message: "Explore for energy. Right here. Right now."

That's pretty similar to McCain's new slogan: "We're going to drill here and we're going to drill now!"

But McCain can't claim credit for the catchy phrase -- he stole it from Newt Gingrich and his 527 group, American Solutions for Winning the Future. American Solutions got funding this year from Peabody Energy ($250,000) and conservative mega-donors Sheldon Adelson ($1.5 million), Carl Lindner ($400,000), and Harlan Crow ($250,000).

Gingrich, incidentally, just announced a new song for the movement, entitled "Drill Here Drill Now."

So there you go. From an outside group (American Solutions) to a presidential candidate to an outside group (American Future Fund), a rallying cry is born.

-- Will Evans

11:17 AM ET | 09-11-2008 | permalink

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Club For Growth Uses Eminent Domain To Assail Dem

The anti-tax, small-government organization Club for Growth has a message for Coloradans: You could lose your home if you elect Democrat Mark Udall to the Senate.

The Club is using the threat of eminent domain -- the government's power to take over private property under some circumstances -- to clobber Udall in a new ad. After recounting the cases of an elderly man who lost his house and a family business that was forced to close, the ad says, "Liberal Mark Udall votes to make it easier for government to take private property."

The last ad Club for Growth unleashed on Udall was bankrolled by Swift Boat Veterans For Truth patron Bob Perry. Did he scrounge up a few more hundred thousand dollars for this one? We'll let you know when we find out.

-- Will Evans

3:49 PM ET | 09-10-2008 | permalink

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Christian Right Leader Backs McCain On The Air

Evangelical leader James Dobson sure took his time, but has finally come around to supporting John McCain. And last week, he put a bit of money behind his new position.

Dobson's Christian conservative advocacy group, Focus on the Family Action, reported spending $40,000 on a radio broadcast supporting McCain. That's a far cry from Dobson's message earlier this year, when he said he wouldn't vote for McCain. That was a big deal because Dobson and other religious right leaders mobilized evangelicals to vote for President Bush in 2000 and 2004.

Why the change of heart? Credit McCain's VP pick, Sarah Palin. On his recent broadcast, Dobson called Palin "a deeply committed Christian" and said, "If I went into the polling booth today, I would pull the lever for John McCain." With Dobson's influence, that means a lot more than just one vote.

-- Will Evans

6:33 PM ET | 09- 9-2008 | permalink

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Ad Ties Obama, Jailed Mayor

Here's another entry in the "Obama's Friends" series of attack ads. This one comes from Freedom's Defense Fund, a conservative political action committee. It seeks to tar Obama for his past praise of outgoing Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who pleaded guilty last week to two felonies and is headed to jail.

The ad shows a mug shot of Kilpatrick and a list of charges against him, along with audio of Obama saying "I'm grateful to call him a friend and a colleague and I'm looking forward to a lengthy collaboration." At the end, the on-screen text says, "You should know who Barack Obama's friends are." The Obama quote is from a May 2007 speech; more recently, Obama has shunned Kilpatrick and called for his resignation.

Freedom's Defense Fund is running the ad this week in the Detroit suburb of Macomb County, MI, with hopes to expand the ad buy. The group seems particularly focused on African-American politicians. One part of its Web site says, "Does the thought of Senators Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton scare you? At the Freedom's Defense Fund, we think it should."

The PAC has raised and spent more than $400,000 in the first half of this year. Its treasurer is Scott B. Mackenzie, who served in the Reagan Administration. Jerome Corsi, author of the attack book "The Obama Nation," is a paid consultant.

-- Will Evans

6:12 PM ET | 09- 8-2008 | permalink

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Chamber Of Commerce Finds Affection For Democrat

Earlier, we wrote about how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was cranking up its ad campaign in Senate races, but hadn't launched any ads supporting Democrats yet. Well, over the weekend, the Chamber spread the love around.

The trade association is running not one but two ads boosting Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), the only Senate Democrat who has to worry much about her seat. One commends Landrieu's record on health care in much the same way other Chamber ads praise Republicans on the issue.

The other ad lauds Landrieu for supporting increased oil exploration, thereby creating jobs and "energy security." Again, an issue where conservative groups usually praise Republicans and attack Democrats.

But the Chamber doesn't have the same kind feelings toward the Democratic Senate candidate one state over. In Mississippi, the Chamber's ad blames former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove for losing 51,000 jobs during his tenure. (In a nice bit of symmetry, Musgrove's campaign website claims he created 52,000 new jobs.) In any case, after saying Musgrove represents "fewer jobs...higher taxes...reckless spending," the ad urges: "Tell him to start protecting Mississippi jobs."

It's a typical ending for a campaign-related ad by an outside group, designed to show that the ad is about a legislative issue rather than an election. The lawyers like it like that. It usually works when the candidate is a legislator or governor or something, but it's not clear how Musgrove -- unless he actually gets this job -- could "start protecting Mississippi jobs."

-- Will Evans

11:43 AM ET | 09- 3-2008 | permalink

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Vets For Freedom Keeps Heat On Obama

Just a week after its last ad, Vets for Freedom has a new one pummeling Obama for refusing "to acknowledge the success of the surge." That would be the troop surge in Iraq, which is Vets for Freedom's main issue.

Though the group is still careful to make the ad about a legislative issue -- a pro-surge Senate resolution -- its ads have become increasingly hard-hitting and increasingly about Obama. In July, one of its ads mimicked Obama's slogan, "Change we can believe in," but didn't mention the candidate by name. Then came an ad blaming "some in Washington" who opposed the surge, showing on-screen quotes by Obama and other senators. The most recent ad, in contrast, criticizes Obama strongly and directly.

-- Will Evans

4:29 PM ET | 09- 2-2008 | permalink

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Chamber of Commerce Senate Campaign Heats Up

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce unleashed a slew of new TV ads in key Senate races this week, part of a $20 million-plus campaign to protect congressional incumbents and elect candidates who are pro-business.

Though the Chamber supports some Democrats, all of the ads this week go the other way. The only Democratic senator who seems to be in real jeopardy, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, doesn't get any TV help from the Chamber, at least in this round.

The Chamber has two new ads in New Hampshire. One of them tags Democrat Jeanne Shaheen as a "taxing machine" (it rhymes with her name). The other ad praises incumbent John Sununu, the Republican, for his record on health care.

Likewise, in Minnesota, a Chamber ad ridicules Democratic challenger Al Franken for wanting to raise taxes while not paying some of his own. Another lauds Republican incumbent Norm Coleman for "working to keep the government out of your medical decisions."

Two more ads, one supporting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and another promoting Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR), compliment the Republicans for opposing government interference in health care. It's an interesting tack, since Democrats think health care (and government involvement therein) will be a winner for them.

Look for more Chamber ads down the road...

-- Will Evans

UPDATE: Here's the Al Franken ad...

1:35 PM ET | 08-28-2008 | permalink

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New Wave Of Ads On Union Elections

The Employee Freedom Action Committee has rolled out a new wave of TV ads blasting Democratic Senate candidates for supporting legislation that would make it easier for unions to organize workers. The ads blame Democrats for wanting to eliminate secret ballots in union elections -- and many of them feature a photo of the candidate with his or her mouth awkwardly open.

The group -- run by the firm of Rick Berman, who heads a number of industry-funded nonprofits -- is pushing a similar message as the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace. The two groups share twin goals: defeating the Employee Free Choice Act and damaging Democratic chances to pick up Senate seats. The new ads are running in Kentucky, Oregon, Maine, Mississippi and Colorado.

On the other side, the union-backed American Rights At Work just launched a series of print and billboard ads promoting the legislation as a boon to a struggling middle class. Labor argues the measure would allow workers to choose a union without as much harassment from corporate management. The Service Employees International Union gave $250,000 to American Rights At Work in 2007.

-- Will Evans

4:47 PM ET | 08-27-2008 | permalink

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Chamber Of Commerce Boosts Dole

UPDATE: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce expects to spend well over $20 million this year to help elect pro-business candidates to Congress, according to spokesperson J.P. Fielder. He says that besides the North Carolina and Minnesota Senate races, the Chamber is supporting Republicans Bob Schaffer in Colorado, Steve Pearce in New Mexico, Roger Wicker in Mississippi, Susan Collins in Maine, as well as Democrats Mary Landrieu in Louisiana, Max Baucus in Montana and Mark Pryor in Arkansas. "The Senate is ground zero for the business community," Fielder says, adding that the Chamber doesn't get involved in presidential races.
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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is coming to the aide of Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), who faces a tightening re-election race, a bevy of ads from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Comittee and a couple of attacks from outside groups.

The Chamber is running an ad praising Dole as "a voice for family health care" and saying she voted to improve health care for seniors.

The Chamber also ran an ad earlier this month criticizing Minnesota Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken (below).

-- Will Evans

2:15 PM ET | 08-27-2008 | permalink

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Obama Goes After Conservative Group -- But Can't Find Business Filings

The Obama campaign has gone on the offensive against a multi-million dollar ad campaign by the American Issues Project, a conservative group tying the Democratic candidate to Bill Ayers, a one-time leader of the Weather Underground.

This new ad from the Obama campaign asks why John McCain is "talking about the '60s" -- a direct message that he's ignoring current problems and a subtext that he's stuck in the past.

And because this is a campaign finance issue, there's also action on the legal front. Obama's lawyer Robert Bauer has done what lawyers do -- dispatch letters, both to the Justice Department, demanding an investigation of the American Issues Project, and to stations running the ads. The letters were first reported by Politico .

In a small bit of irony, the letters from Bauer resemble an attack he mounted against the American Leadership Project, a 527 group that backed Hillary Clinton in the primaries and attacked Obama. It's ironic because ALP is now going after McCain on Obama's behalf.

Odder, perhaps, is this gap in Bauer's research, and what it shows about the inner workings of independent political operations.

In an Aug. 21 letter to station managers, Obama's attorney Bob Bauer writes, "There is no 'American Issues Project.' It is not incorporated anywhere...Its name is only a front to hide the true sponsors of this base and mendacious attack, and FCC regulations do not permit a shadowy front group to claim sponsorship of political advertising."

Apparently the Obama legal team did not look in the home state of Obama's running mate, Joe Biden. The American Issues Project does indeed exist, and Delaware, a popular spot for business incorporations, is where it's incorporated.

The story gets stranger from here. AIP was originally incorporated in May 2007 under the name Citizens for the Republic, according to Delaware filings.

Continue reading "Obama Goes After Conservative Group -- But Can't Find Business Filings" »

2:27 PM ET | 08-26-2008 | permalink

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Swift Boats Revisited Part 2 -- The Money

The new ad that links Barack Obama to a one-time 1960s militant turns out to be funded by one man, someone who's spent plenty of time and money playing in the political sandbox.

Harold Simmons, CEO of the Contran Corp. of Dallas, put up all of the $2.8 million to buy airtime for the ad in Michigan and Ohio, and paid to produce the ad as well. Christian Pinkston, a spokesman for the American Issues Project, said Simmons' name was the only one listed on a disclosure report filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Add this to a long list of political contributions made by Simmons and his company -- a list topped by, you guessed it, $3 million to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004.

At first glance, Simmons' beneficiaries look like birds of a conservative feather: the three GOP national party committees, GOPAC, Republican Governors Association, the 501c4 group Progress for America from '04 and too many congressional Republicans to list here.

Then it gets more interesting. This year, Simmons maxed out with $2,300 contributions to four of the Republican presidential primary hopefuls: Rudolph Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Duncan Hunter and John McCain.

And more interesting still: two grand to a Democratic presidential candidate, Bill Richardson.

It's even possible -- we'll know soon enough -- that Simmons might be supporting the running mate of the candidate he's now attacking. Back in May 2007, he gave $2,300 to Chet Edwards (D-TX), now said to be on the shortlist of Obama vice-presidential possibilities.

-- Peter Overby

6:40 PM ET | 08-22-2008 | permalink

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Praise For The Republican, Criticism For The Democrat

The American Future Fund has two new radio pieces out, one smacking Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and the other backing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

The Reid ad targets the Democrat for opposing legislation it says will lower gas prices, and the other ad promotes McConnell for supporting the legislation.

-- Will Evans

The Reid Ad:

Continue reading "Praise For The Republican, Criticism For The Democrat" »

4:33 PM ET | 08-22-2008 | permalink

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CO Dem Can't Get Relief From American Future Fund

Outside groups just can't get enough of the Colorado Senate race.

Just one week after the American Future Fund went after Democratic candidate Mark Udall for opposing oil exploration, it has a new TV ad today attacking Udall's changed position supporting some new drilling. The ad says the bipartisan compromise plan Udall backs would impose "crippling regulations" on offshore drilling and would "raise taxes that consumers could pay."

-- Will Evans

1:27 PM ET | 08-21-2008 | permalink

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American Future Fund Comes To New Hampshire

American Future Fund put out a new ad today adding to the noise around former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen's challenge to Sen. John Sununu (R-NH). The ad dings Shaheen, a Democrat, for opposing offshore drilling and praises Sununu for his energy policy positions. It was produced by the firm of AFF's media consultant, Larry McCarthy, who produced the controversial "Willie Horton ad" of the 1988 presidential election.

-- Will Evans

2:15 PM ET | 08-20-2008 | permalink

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New Hampshire Race Attracts Another Outside Group

Americans for Prosperity released a new radio spot last week criticizing former New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen for her energy plan, including her opposition to offshore drilling. Shaheen, a Democrat, is currently running for Senate.

Americans for Prosperity is spending $122,000 on the ad, according to a recent Federal Election Commission filing. The group -- which has received financial backing from conservative billionaire and former Libertarian vice presidential candidate David Koch -- promotes free market policies, lower taxes and limited government spending.

-- Daniella De Franco

1:52 PM ET | 08-20-2008 | permalink

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Here's A Switch: Tarred For Taking Environmentalist Money

When Freedom's Watch ran an ad accusing Rep. Nick Lampson (D-TX) of "politics as usual," the group's line of attack was anything but usual.

Unlike a barrage of ads from independent advocacy groups attacking Republicans for accepting contributions from "Big Oil," Freedom's Watch accuses Lampson of taking donations from an environmentalist group -- or rather, "a liberal special interest group that favors high gas prices." The group at issue was the Sierra Club. The ad ran over the last two weeks.

-- Daniella De Franco

5:29 PM ET | 08-19-2008 | permalink

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Freedom's Watch Hits Colorado Democrat Again

Freedom's Watch began running a new television ad today that lambasts Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO) for skipping a vote on whether to adjourn Congress before discussion of an energy bill. Set to the tune of "Skip to My Lou," the ad is a follow-up to Freedom's Watch's similarly themed ad from last week. According to the group, the new ad will run statewide in Colorado this week.

-- Daniella De Franco

4:12 PM ET | 08-19-2008 | permalink

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Pro-Huckabee Group Is Back

Common Sense Issues, the group that aggressively promoted Republican Mike Huckabee as a presidential candidate, is back in the mix -- in North Dakota.

In its first time on the air since the presidential primaries, the group began a radio ad yesterday ripping Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) for receiving a favorable Countrywide loan on his beach house in Delaware.

Sen. Conrad isn't up for re-election till 2012, but as the group's executive director Patrick Davis tells us, "Common Sense Issues plays for the long term."

Continue reading "Pro-Huckabee Group Is Back " »

10:27 AM ET | 08-19-2008 | permalink

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Club Finds Multiple Problems With Senate Candidate

The Club for Growth hammers Rep. Tom Udall (D-NM) on a host of hot-button issues in a new ad launched today. The ad criticizes Udall, New Mexico's Democratic Senate candidate, for opposing offshore oil-drilling, while supporting eminent domain and the estate tax.

The ad weaves it all together this way: "For Tom Udall, if it's private property, take it; if it dies, tax it; but if it's American oil, leave it in the ground. Tell liberal Tom Udall that American freedom comes from American resources."

Meanwhile, in July the Club for Growth's 527 took in $250,000 from Rex Sinquefield of the Show-Me Institute and $95,000 from Robert Levy of the Cato Institute, among other donations.

-- Will Evans

7:19 PM ET | 08-15-2008 | permalink

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New Ads Target Democratic Louisiana Senator

Two ideologically opposed groups ran ads this week taking on Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), according to recent filings with the Federal Election Commission.

They Work For Us, a liberal advocacy organization that pressures Democrats to support populist economic policies, spent $117,000 on a radio ad called "Check the Facts." The group did not return phone calls asking about the nature of the ad. It is run by a board including Democratic operative Steve Rosenthal, MoveOn.org executive director Eli Pariser, Service Employees International Union official Anna Burger, and liberal blogger Markos Moulitsas Zuniga.

Seperately, the Louisiana Conservative Action Network spent $87,000 on an ad targeting Landrieu called "One Vote Away." The Network was incorporated this year by John Diez Jr., a political consultant who has worked for the Republican National Committee. Diez also ran the Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority, which focused on electing Republicans to the state legislature. Diez did not immediately return phone calls.

-- Will Evans

3:49 PM ET | 08-15-2008 | permalink

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Group Blames Colorado Democrat For Gas Prices

The American Future Fund announced a new TV ad today criticizing Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO) for supporting policies that keep gas prices high and urging him to vote for offshore oil drilling. Udall is Colorado's Democratic candidate for Senate.

-- Will Evans

6:40 PM ET | 08-14-2008 | permalink

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Attack Ad Veteran Teams With Attack Book Author

Jerome Corsi may be getting all the attention right now for his anti-Obama attack book, but there's another veteran political operative who has been toiling away to take down the Democratic candidate with a Swift-Boat-style campaign. And now, the two are working together.

Floyd Brown, whose most famous effort was the "Willie Horton ad" that damaged Democrat Michael Dukakis' presidential campaign in 1988, has been working on a viral campaign to send anti-Obama videos to millions of voters. His main organization, the National Campaign Fund, runs the Web site ExposeObama.com, which features videos linking Obama to gang violence and questioning Obama's assertion that he's never been a Muslim (below).

(The Obama campaign's "Fight the Smears" Web site has a special entry for Brown.)

Brown, in an interview today, says he has two more upcoming videos based on a collaboration with Corsi, co-author of the book that launched the crippling Swift Boat veterans critique of Democrat John Kerry in 2004. The new ads are based on Corsi's new book, "The Obama Nation."

Continue reading "Attack Ad Veteran Teams With Attack Book Author" »

4:53 PM ET | 08-14-2008 | permalink

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Conservative Group Hits Republican In AK Primary

The Club for Growth hits beleaguered Rep. Don Young (R-AK) with this ad accusing him of pushing for an earmark that would benefit an out-of-state campaign contributor. Young is currently under federal investigation for corruption, including scrutiny of the Florida earmark cited by the ad. Club for Growth has endorsed Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who is challenging Young in the Republican primary. The ad buy, which starts today, will cost $350,000, according to the group.

-- Daniella De Franco

3:26 PM ET | 08-13-2008 | permalink

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Senate Majority Leader Draws Fire For Energy Stance

The American Future Fund ran this ad in Nevada and Washington, D.C. criticizing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) for opposing oil exploration in Alaska and off the coasts. The ad aired in July.

-- Will Evans and Daniella De Franco

8:57 PM ET | 08-12-2008 | permalink

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Radio Ad Praises NC Republican

Americans for Prosperity has this ad praising Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) for her plan to lift the ban on offshore oil exploration. The group said Aug. 7 that it would spend $150,000 on the ad.

-- Will Evans and Daniella De Franco

8:36 PM ET | 08-12-2008 | permalink

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Freedom's Watch Dings CO Democrat

Freedom's Watch produced this ad criticizing Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO) for missing a vote on whether Congress could adjourn before handling an energy bill. Udall is running for Senate.

-- Will Evans

7:50 PM ET | 08-12-2008 | permalink

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Group Criticizes CO Candidate For Energy Votes

The American Future Fund is running this radio ad criticizing Colorado's Democratic Senate candidate Mark Udall for voting against increased oil exploration. The ad launched on July 30th.

-- Will Evans and Daniella De Franco

7:19 PM ET | 08-12-2008 | permalink

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Former Swift Boat Donor Finds New Target

Mark Udall, meet Bob Perry.

Udall, a Democratic member of Congress from Colorado, is running for Senate this year in a race that is attracting out-of-state money from all sides.

Perry, a Texas developer, gave $4.4 million to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to help defeat John Kerry in 2004. FEC reports reveal that the Texan dropped $400,000 this month to air an ad criticizing Udall for "wasteful" spending.

Perry gave the money to the Club for Growth. The group said in a press release that the ad will be up for 2 weeks.

Watch the ad:

--Will Evans

4:52 PM ET | 08-11-2008 | permalink

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Anti-Union Ad Comes to Maine

The pro-business Coalition for a Democratic Workplace brings its tough-talking ad against a union-backed Senate bill to the Portland, ME, market.

The ad stars Vince Curatola. Sopranos fans will recognize him as Johnny Sack, a New York mobster who operated out of a construction company. For CDW, he dons a lavender tie and black suit, as a union boss who fears incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R) but thinks he could work nicely with challenger Tom Allen (D).

Stereotype or cartoon? Your call. CDW likes the image well enough to run Johnny Sack in five other states with embattled Republican incumbents, and on the CDW website as well.

As for the Employee Free Choice Act, the bill in question: It would make it easier for unions to organize workplaces. Labor says corporate America has had a free hand to intimidate workers during the Bush administration, and this would level the playing field.

CDW members -- and the list of businesses and trade associations is a long one -- say it's a question of protecting the secret ballot in organizing elections, as it is on any election day.

-- Peter Overby

3:25 PM ET | 08- 8-2008 | permalink

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Group Uses Union Issue to Target Democrats

The Employee Freedom Action Committee, which goes by different names in each state, is airing ads targeting Democratic Senators and Senate candidates on the issue of secret ballots in union elections. The ad is running in the following locations under these names:

KY: Kentuckians for Employee Freedom, targeting Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford
LA: Lousianans for Employee Freedom, targeting Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
ME: Mainers for Employee Freedom, targeting Rep. Tom Allen (D-ME)
MS: Mississippians for Employee Freedom, targeting former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove
NH: Granite Staters for Employee Freedom, targeting former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen
OR: Oregonians for Employee Freedom, targeting state Speaker of the House Jeff Merkley

The ad below is adapted to name the Democratic Senate candidate in each state.

UPDATE:
The same ad, targeting Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO), began airing Aug. 13 under the name Coloradans for Employee Freedom.

-- Will Evans

2:15 AM ET | 08- 1-2008 | permalink

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Conservative Group Takes on Colorado Democrat

Coloradans for Economic Growth airs an ad criticizing Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO) who is running for Senate. The ad says Udall voted to raise taxes.

-- Will Evans

1:30 AM ET | 07-24-2008 | permalink

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"Both Ways Barack"

airs an ad on cable TV calling Obama "Both Ways Barack" and "worse than a flip-flopper."

11:16 PM ET | 07-22-2008 | permalink

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Citizens United Advertises Anti-Obama Film

Citizens United ran this ad on cable television to promote its upcoming anti-Obama film, "HYPE: The Obama Effect."

-- Will Evans

9:47 PM ET | 07-21-2008 | permalink

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Vets Group Says Surge Worked

Vets For Freedom airs an ad with veterans saying the troop surge in Iraq was successful, despite "some in Washington" who opposed it. The ad cites an Obama quote criticizing the surge policy. The ad ran in Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia.

-- Will Evans

12:41 AM ET | 07-18-2008 | permalink

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Vets For Freedom: "Finish the Job"

Vets For Freedom airs an ad featuring veterans calling for the next president to "finish the job" in Iraq. It ran in Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia.

-- Will Evans

12:33 AM ET | 07- 9-2008 | permalink

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Business Group Goes After Franken

The business-backed Coalition for a Democratic Workplace airs an ad in Minnesota criticizing DFL Senate candidate Al Franken for being a friend of union bosses and wanting to end secret ballots in union elections.

-- Will Evans

2:03 AM ET | 07- 7-2008 | permalink

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