Liberal groups air anti-McCain TV ad

Posted: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 10:32 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: Democrats, Ads

From NBC's Mark Murray
MoveOn (which endorsed Obama during the primary season) and the labor union AFSCME (which backed Clinton) have teamed up for a new provocative, hard-hitting TV ad on McCain that revisits the Arizona senator's "100 years" remark regarding Iraq.

It features a mother and her baby, Alex. "Hi, John McCain, this is Alex, he's my first," she says. "So far, his talents include trying any new food and chasing after our dog. That, and making my heart pound every time I look at him. So, John McCain, when you said you would stay in Iraq for 100 years, were you counting on Alex? Because if you were, you can’t have him."

Per a release, the groups are spending $540,000 on this ad, and it will run in the battlegrounds of Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as on national cable.

*** UPDATE *** RNC spokesman Alex Conant emails First Read this response to the ad: “MoveOn.org was wrong to smear General Petraeus, just like Barack Obama was wrong to not go to Iraq to meet with him. America cannot afford a Commander-in-Chief who listens to partisan groups like MoveOn.org instead of our commanders. Bringing peace and security to Iraq will require a Commander in Chief who won’t allow partisanship to cloud his judgment.”

*** UPDATE II *** NBC's Katie Mulhall has more: MoveOn and AFSCME held a conference call this morning with MoveOn executive director Eli Pariser, AFSCME's Paul Booth, and Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg discussing the ad. Greenberg has worked with MoveOn since 2004 to Web-test its ads, and according to her, this was the group’s top-testing ad to date. Five hundred likely voters were asked whether they agreed with the ad, and they were asked their impressions of McCain on a number of attributes before and after viewing the ad. There was significant movement, she said, on two key issues -- willingness to go to war and “being part of the mess in Washington." After viewing the ad, voters were 13 points more likely to describe McCain as “part of the mess."

As mentioned above, AFSCME had endorsed Clinton in the Democratic primary, but Booth signaled his group’s willingness to work on Obama’s behalf, saying that the members understand the general election presents “a very clear choice” and that “if he puts his shoulder to the wheel, we’ll be there.” Pariser added that while the two groups supported different candidates in the primary, they both “represent the same type of people” who want to end the war and improve our economy.  

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