New Clinton 3:00 am TV ad hits McCain

Posted: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 3:45 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: Ads

From NBC's Mark Murray

In a conference call with reporters, the Clinton campaign announced that it's unveiling another 3:00 am TV ad -- this one hitting McCain on the economy.

The 30-second ad will air in Pennsylvania, and communications director Howard Wolfson said he believes it's the first Democratic TV ad this cycle to mention McCain.

Here's the script:
Announcer: It's 3 am, and your children are safe and asleep.
But there's a phone ringing in the White House and this time the crisis is economic.
Home foreclosures mounting, markets teetering.
John McCain just said the government shouldn't take any real action on the housing crisis, he'd let the phone keep ringing.
Hillary Clinton has a plan to protect our homes, create jobs.
It's 3 am, time for a president who's ready.
Hillary Clinton: I'm Hillary Clinton and I approve this message.

*** UPDATE *** McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds replies to the ad, "John McCain is ready to lead with a pro-growth economic plan to lower taxes, cut government spending, empower America's entrepreneurs and get our economy back on track. Americans can't afford the Democrats' liberal agenda to raise taxes, nationalize health care, cut off trade and crush the economy under big government."

EMAIL THIS

Comments

This is getting silly. Why would anyone call the president at 3 a.m. about the economy?

Steve, Springfield, Ill. (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 3:54 PM)

Sillary stop with the 3am phone adds. You have lost the race to the white house give it up. And if We catch you at the convetion in Denver, the local authority's have already been alerted to pick you up on site. Stop begging and just go home. Pathetic...

James Memphis Tn (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 3:54 PM)

Yawn. I'm betting if she's sleep deprived enough to dream of snipers and recite it at least three times, any answer she gives at 3 am will also be a fairy tale.

Mary, Ohio (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 3:55 PM)

Okay Hillary, WE GET IT. You are sleep deprived because you are ALWAYS up at 3:00 a.m. What's with all of the 3:00 a.m. stuff?

My guess is that in the case of most economic crises, the phone will ring sometime during normal business hours anyway.

http://thepajamapundit.com/

the Pajama Pundit (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 3:56 PM)

HRC must be an insomniac...

This is a bit ridiculous, no? Message is great, delivery is poor.

JT, PHX (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 3:56 PM)

Why would Hillary not let the presumtive nominee of her party devise and place his own ads discussing the Republican opponent? I'm sure he would have enough money to come up with something new.

Gary - Pittsburgh (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 3:57 PM)

Geez, does the phone NEVER ring during the day at the White House? ENOUGH ALREADY!

sotiredofignorance (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 3:58 PM)

Stop wasting your money, Hillary. Why recycle an old ad just to save money and try to look serious?

At this point anyone contributing to Hillary is just giving $$ to pay off her debt. She wants to pay herself back and leave this campaign without debt to carry forward.

I believe that this is the MAJOR reason she is pushing so hard to sound viable. She NEEDS to stay in long enough to raise money to make herself whole. Does anyone who has observed this woman (couple) believe for one moment that she would leave before getting enough $$ to cover herself?

So, go ahead all of you - soon to be duped - supporters. Close your eyes - hold your breath - set aside reality - and GIVE, GIVE, GIVE. I'm sure you all want to keep the Clinton's in their newly found lifestyle/wealth that their former presidency has helped them obtain. Those tax returns are being held up not only because of possible damage with the electorate - but also as to not crimp the "campaign" fundraising efforts!

Jane - Philly (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 3:59 PM)

This is getting really retarded!! They need to stop. I thing this will really cause Barack's poll numbers to skyrocket in Pennsylvannia!!

Dante (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 3:59 PM)

Boooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! If this is all Hillary can come up with against McCain than if she steals the nomination The Democratic party is in big trouble!!!

Kris STL (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 3:59 PM)

She needs to put this 3am phone call thing to rest. It's getting old. Does she REALLY think this is working? Another poor use of money she doesn't have.

Diane from Illinois (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:00 PM)

Why does everything happen at 3:00 am? I guess she's useless the other 23 hours? This is getting silly.

MJ, Washington DC (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:00 PM)

OMG...enough with 3am already!

Kaye,NC (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:00 PM)

It's 3 am and HRC is NOT in the White House... PLEASE Give us a BREAK!

anybody but Biliary (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:02 PM)

The ONLY thing a President can do for the economy is sign or veto an economic bill passed by Congress. Other than that, a President can DO NOTHING except write bills and make speeches. And those bills have to be introduced by someone in ... you guessed it... CONGRESS. And I've never seen Congress hand anything to the President at 3 a.m.

Tim, Mobile (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:02 PM)

First of all, Steve in Springfield's post is the funniest post I have read in a long time (and I mean that sincerely, no sarcasm intended - it is really funny).

Secondly, I think it shows that Hillary Clinton may actually be starting to believe that she can't win the nomination and is trying to weaken McCain for Obama. I wonder if this is the first sign of a possible graceful exit by Clinton (although the exit won't occur until May 7th at the earliest).

Patrick, Indianapolis (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:02 PM)

OMG Hillary is FINALLY going after John McCain!
What took you so long? Is it that you've finally run out of slander, sleaze, and, innuendo to fling in Obama's direction?

Bill,Rochester,NY (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:02 PM)

It's 3 AM, and the Super Delegates are calling on Senator Clinton to step aside. Will she answer the call?

Nashville_fan (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:02 PM)

Are the Clinton finances so bad they can't afford a completely new ad showing her dealing with the economy in the middle of the day? Is she dealing with it at 3:00 a.m. to reduce scrutiny, or input? Or, is she trying to show she's super human and never sleeps? I'm obviously confused about the significance of the 3:00 am opener.

Shannon S (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:03 PM)

Is Hillary retarded or merely a really slow learner? That 3 am phone call only reminds us that the Bosnian snipers did not exist AND her opposition to NAFTA is a fantasy too.

PBurns, Arlington, Virginia (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:03 PM)

Part two of the ad goes like this. Hillary Clinton turns around and says "Bill its for you".

Bill, Rochester,NY (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:04 PM)

Getting old, Hil---maybe you're just recycling ads because you don't have the bucks to run more innovative ones. But then, we all know who the REAL innovative one in this race is, don't we?

Class Warrior, D.C. (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:04 PM)

It seems as though Hillary is so pathologically fond of telephone operators, which is why she is playing the phone ard. We already know she really has never answered the phone in response to a national crisis, so why bother reporting?

Jerry S. Oakland, CA (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:06 PM)

Pennsylvanians don`t fall for the lies, she did the same to the voters in Ohio on NAFTA and now they realized that she TOLD THEM A BALD FACED LIE!
HRC is proposing billions of dollars a year Wednesday to keep jobs from being shipped abroad as she appealed to blue collar workers in Pennsylvania. How can you believe this when she said the same thing in New York when running for the senate and the people in New York are still waiting for the 2000 jobs she promised back then. She blames it on the situation of who was president at that time. HRC simply cannot own up to her lies ( Oops! I mean misstatements.)
Shame on you HRC trying this same old tactic again, Pennsylvanians if you fall for this as the voters did in Ohio regarding NAFTA then it will be your loss, this woman simply cannot tell the truth.

Go Obama '08

BIGOLDTEXAN (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:06 PM)

Yeah, this add is not very creative, but lets give Hillary a break. There is nothing wrong with her remaining in the race if she (as she does in this add) attacks republicans or promotes the democratic agenda.

Eric (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:07 PM)

HILLARY HAS LOST IT:

This ad makes it clear that Hillary has either lost it or has given up trying to win the nomination and will finish out making a case for the Dems against McCain. Clinton staffers agreeing to new ads using the old 3 AM line should be fired.

News Flash:

Hillary's camp has suspended and is no longer giving daily telephone conference calls with the press.

It appears for now anyway that Hillary has stopped making constant daily senseless attacks against Obama.

Hillary's jovial and relaxed mood on the plane after leaving the Wilkes-Barre, PA airport is described by reportrers as weird but telling. It's as if she has resigned herself to the fact that she cannot win this nomination (most likely her internal bean counters have told her she cannot win PA by the margins she had hoped and that there is now a possibility of even losing PA).

Hillary is on her way to a fund raiser in New Mexico!!? Make sense to you guys?

Something is brewing here that will be announced after the PA primary results. A concession?

C A, Tuscaloosa, AL (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:07 PM)

THIS IS CLEARLY THE 'SILLY' SEASON FOR THE HILLARY CAMPAIGN ... WHO CARES ABOUT HER IMAGINARY 3 A.M. PHONE CALLS --- IT IS SHEAR NONSENSE.

HILLARY'S SILLY SEASON - PART 2 (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:07 PM)

Am I missing something or is Hillary tranforming into the VP candidate before our very eyes?

The Clintons just done give up!

She does make a good point though but as I said before its not only policy that matters but the ability to get it done.

As for the insourcing idea, it appears a copy of Barracks for giving tax breaks to companies that create jobs here givena new fancy name.

J. Hughes (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:09 PM)

Hillary Rambo Clinton !!
She's the one !!

She'll get Norman Hsu to re-finance your mortgage !
Maybe Peter Paul can hold a fund raiser and get all those Chinese dish washers to contribute to your mortgage payemnts

And all at 3:00am.....

Hillary Clinton, she's NOT Sleep deprived

Sierra, SF (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:10 PM)

Bill - answer the phone. And if it's someone that wants to know where the tax returns are, tell them that I dropped them in Bosnia when I was running from the sniper fire.

MBM, Chicago, IL (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:10 PM)

Be happy that she's going after McCain. Both of them should be doing that more and more every day.

Republican = borrow and spend and Iraq.

Vote Democratic 2008

Carol, Long Valley NJ (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:10 PM)

Hasn't she gotten enough ridicule for the first ad? Why on earth would she want to bring it up again. Hillary's weird.

Billy, MI (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:11 PM)

It's about time this woman come up with something new, you know something significant, or get out of the race!

Obama 08

Stacey, NY (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:11 PM)

3 A.M.? A phone call on the falling dollar? Are you KIDDING? The market doesn't even open until 9:30! Unless she is getting phone calls about a sudden home mortgage crisisis in Moscow and the falling of the Australian dollar, it makes 0 sense. The symbolism they are trying to get across will be lost (if at all perceived) because it is so transparent. It also does not invoke relevant memories of the 1st 3AM ad because once SNL parody's a advertisement, it is pretty much no longer effective and is a joke in and of itself. Additionally, I like how they didn't drop the sleeping girl who, now that she is older, is a ardent Obama supporter. At the very least, that should have ended up on the editing floor (along with the other 29 seconds).

Ryan Philadelphia, PA (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:11 PM)

Hillary, if your economic adviser can't fix the problem during his working hours, then it's time to fire the individual. There is no such thing as a 3:00am phone.

The only 3:00am calls Hillary is receiving are from the Super-delegates, who are voting for Obama.

sozzi, mamaroneck, ny (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:11 PM)

At least she's going after McCain now. I commend her for that but she does need to lay off on the 3AM fixation though.

C.K. Steele Fort Lauderdale, FL (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:11 PM)

Anyone notice they didn't use the girl who came out for Obama this time?

rita forte (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:12 PM)

Mindless the first time, mindless the second.

Obama 08! PLEASE!

John Mehan, San Francisco, CA (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:13 PM)

Bill - get the phone, it's 3:00 am. And just exactly what time was it when you got home? If it's someone asking where the tax returns are, tell I dropped them at the Bosnia airport when I was running from the sniper fire.

MBM, Chicago, IL (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:13 PM)

By the time anyone of the candidates gets to the White House it will be too late to help with the current economic crisis. It doesn't make much difference what Hillary's plan is, or Barak's, or McCain's non-plan. The boys and girls on Capitol Hill better get off their butts and do something real to help people or we are going to have a whole new crop of homeless people and closed banks and mortgage lenders. We have got to stop with the political ideology and face reality. If our economic system doesn't take care of the people it is worthless. Some ideologues seem to think that it is the obligation of the people to serve the system rather than the other way around. We need to pay attention to the economic engines of our society but only to the end that they serve the people as a whole, not the privileged few at the top of the ladder. And by the way it doesn't exactly help to be spending billions every week trying to keep the Iraqi society pasted together when we are having such a hard time at home.

norm, st. louis, MO (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:13 PM)

Hillary should hang up the phone and get some rest. She's sleep deprived at 3PM in the afternoon telling her repeated sniper story, God only knows what type of decision she'll make at 3AM.

give it up hillary (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:15 PM)

I'm an Obama supporter, but I think it is great for Hillary to run ads against McCain. I think both candidates should be targeting him, and not each other.

I agree, though, it is kind of silly to get a 3am phone call about the economy.

Scott C., Maui, Hawaii (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:15 PM)

Hillary should hang up the phone and get some rest. She's sleep deprived at 3PM in the afternoon telling her repeated sniper story, God only knows what type of decision she'll make at 3AM.

give it up hillary (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:15 PM)

ENOUGH OF THE 3AM CALL ADS. GO TAKE A SLEEPING PILL AND CALL HER IN THE MORNING!

RJ (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:15 PM)

I thought Bill Clinton said a race between McCain and the Clinton's would be a really wonderful thing and that it would not be nasty because they liked eachother. Guess we can't trust the Clinton's...once again!

MG (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:16 PM)

Hillary should hang up the phone and get some rest. She's sleep deprived at 3PM in the afternoon telling her repeated sniper story, God only knows what type of decision she'll make at 3AM.

give it up hillary (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:16 PM)

Wonder how many times Bill was sleeping next to her at 3:00 am?

MG (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:17 PM)

Ok, seriously...is this a belated April Fools joke?

Jaime, Boyton Beach (formerly Lantana), FL (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:18 PM)

Crafty. Very crafty.

At this juncture, she's got to spend her money where it will be most effective, for her. Going after McCain in Pa., on the economy, she brings her polling numbers up against him, thereby, she hopes to kill two birds with one stone when she spins her 'more elecatble' rhetoric against Barack.

Fear mongering worked for her in TX., and OH.

Pa., here's your mantra; 'remember the vendors, remember the vendors, remember the vendors'.

Pa., ask yourselves, 'Why is hillary broke? Why is Hillary broke? Why is Hillary broke'?

If she cannot manage her campaign finances, she will be a disaster with the Federal Budget. DON'T BELIEVE HILLARY.

On the other hand, Senator Obama's campaign spending, and thriftyness has ben nothing short of genius. His head campaign fundraiser, is working off of a ping-pong table.

Think it over very carefully Pa.

Pulling for Obama '08

But it's weird she's not going after Barack

donna, pgh., pa. (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:20 PM)

I guess this is the best one can do when your running out of money. Hillary, better you should have saved the money than embarass yourself in this laffer.

You really did approve this? My, your losing it girl.

gmhussein, Jupiter, Fl. (Sent Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:20 PM)

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