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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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