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...

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

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Political Pizza

Sometimes, even pizza can be partisan.

In its campaign against Rep. Steve Pearce, the Republican candidate for Senate in New Mexico, Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund filed a new government disclosure this week:

Expenditure Description: pizza for canvassers
Date Expended = 09/18/2008
In OPPOSITION to Steve Pearce

The cost for the Pizza Party? $119.12.

So let's see...at Mario's Pizza and Ristorante, which is where the canvassers ate, that'll get you roughly three "giant" pizzas (16 slices each) and one large (8 slices). If each person ate three slices, our calculations show that could feed about 15 canvassers and three supervisors. Steve Pearce better watch out.

-- Will Evans

5:01 PM ET | 09-24-2008 | permalink

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Defenders Of Wildlife, Not Republicans

Nobody's accusing Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM) of shooting wolves from planes, but Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund doesn't like him anyway.

The group has a new TV ad out implying that Pearce, who is running for Senate, has some non-wildlife-related ethical problems to explain. The ad, which tries to cram in much more than the usual 30-second blitz of buzz words, says that Pearce chaired a 2003 hearing involving an energy company which, at the same time, was negotiating to buy Pearce's company. The ad suggests that the company bought Pearce's firm at an inflated price. It says, "New Mexico Deserves Answers."

The ad cites a story by Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill. But the paper found "no evidence that Pearce has taken any legislative action to specifically benefit" the energy company.

Meanwhile, Rep. Don Young (R-AK) just can't catch a break. More after the jump...

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6:32 PM ET | 09-23-2008 | permalink

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Defenders of Wildlife Targets Palin

Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund jumps out in front of other liberal groups in releasing an ad attacking Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin. It seems to be the start of much more to come, now that Obama has reportedly softened his stand against liberal 527s and advocacy groups, and donors on the Left grow more anxious about Obama's polling numbers.

The ad says Palin "actively promotes the brutal and unethical aerial hunting of wolves and other wildlife." Showing video of a hunter in an airplane, and a wolf staggering in a circle of red-stained snow, the ad asks: "Do we really want a vice president who champions such savagery?"

In case you were wondering what the group really thinks, Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund endorsed the Obama-Biden ticket today.

--Will Evans

5:59 PM ET | 09-12-2008 | permalink

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