Ads : Category on Electapres.com

Since emerging from a coast-to-coast slate of presidential contests on Feb. 5, Democrat Barack Obama has significantly outspent rival Hillary Rodham Clinton on television commercials, providing a crucial edge that helped push him to a rapid succession of primary and caucus victories.
Obama's ability to blanket the airwaves -- and repeatedly start statewide television ad campaigns a week ahead of Clinton -- has been the defining advantage to emerge from the commanding fundraising lead he staked out in January.

In the nine days following Super Tuesday, the senator from Illinois spent about $13.5 million on television ads, compared with Clinton's $8.3 million, according to a media consultant not connected with any campaign who collected the figures and shared them on the condition of anonymity. In Wisconsin, which will vote on Tuesday, Obama ads monopolized the airwaves for six days before Clinton responded with her own spot.

Permalink [Category: Ads, Money, Obama]

February 05, 2008

Romney Ad Ties McCain to Clinton

Mitt Romney, trailing John McCain in the latest polls, has put out a last-minute negative ad ahead of Super Tuesday. The premise of his new Internet-only spot is to show how Mr. McCain lines up with the liberal Hillary Rodham Clinton on several issues, including immigration, tax cuts, gas prices and judicial confirmations.
Playing on well-known fear among staunch conservatives that Mr. McCain is too centrist, the ad begins by asking, “Is John McCain really the heart and soul of the Republican Party?”

Permalink [Category: Ads, Hillary Clinton, McCain, Romney]

January 25, 2008

Clinton, Obama Back Off Attacks

BEAUFORT, S.C., Jan. 24 -- Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama stepped back from the brink in their war of words Thursday, with each pulling harsh radio ads from local airwaves and seeking to play down intraparty tensions.
Clinton retreated first. Under fire for airing misleading ads about her main rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, her campaign has stopped a radio spot that suggested that Obama (Ill.) was a closet Republican who supported former president Ronald Reagan and the ideas of the 1994 revolt that swept the GOP to control of both chambers of Congress. Obama's campaign counterpunched with a radio ad that pointed out Clinton's early support for the Iraq war and accused her of distorting Obama's words. "She'll say anything and change nothing," the ad said. But by late afternoon, it, too, was off the air.

Permalink [Category: Ads, Hillary Clinton Archive, Obama Archive]

January 11, 2008

Forget Pundits, Giuliani Says

SCORECARD With a sixth-place finish in Iowa, behind Representative Ron Paul of Texas, and a fourth-place finish in New Hampshire (only narrowly ahead of Mr. Paul), Mr. Giuliani has to persuade the voters of Florida not to count him out as a loser as he nearly disappears from news coverage of the race, which is focusing on the winners in Iowa and New Hampshire and the coming contests in Michigan and South Carolina, where Mr. Giuliani is not making a major effort. He focuses on the two issues — security and fiscal matters — that have been at the core of his campaign. But the advertisement seems to go further than Mr. Giuliani does on the stump when it describes the economy as being “in peril,” which may signal that he is going to try to tap into the growing economic anxiety of many voters.

Permalink [Category: Ads, Giuliani Archive]

January 07, 2008

A Blizzard of Ads in New Hampshire

MANCHESTER, N.H. — If you live in the Boston/Manchester media market and you think you’ve been bombarded with political ads this year, you’re right.
In this media market alone, 14 presidential candidates have run a total of 17,167 commercials in the last year, according to new numbers from Nielsen.

Including the spots that they all ran in two other media markets that reach New Hampshire — from Maine and from Vermont and upstate New York — the candidates beamed a total of 28,480 commercials to New Hampshire voters in the last year. New Hampshire’s primary is Tuesday.

And yet on both sides, the candidate running the most commercials is behind in the polls.

Permalink [Category: Ads, New Hampshire Primary]

January 03, 2008

Dems Hit TV for Final Iowa Pitches

Most surveys show Clinton, Obama and Edwards in a close and fluid three-way contest. Those surveys also have identified a large group of activists who have yet to settle on a candidate or who say they could still change their minds.
Edwards makes his last appeal to Iowa voters, not with his own words, but those of Bishop, a working class father. By using Maytag as a foil, the ad touches an emotional nerve in Iowa. Maytag's washer and dryer factory was once the pride of Newton, Iowa, until it closed its doors in October. For Edwards, the plant represents a symbol for his populist rhetoric -- one that criticizes corporations, foreign trade deals and special interests.

''I want a guy that's going to sit down and look a 7-year-old kid in the eye and tell him, 'I'm going to fight for your dad's job,''' Bishop says, as he introduces Edwards to an Iowa crowd. ''That's what I want. I'm going to do my best to make sure that my children aren't the first generation of Americans that I can't look them in the eye and say, 'You're going to have a better life than I had.'''

Edwards supplemented his television spot with a full-page ad in the Des Moines Register that included a written message from Bishop and a lengthy essay from Edwards.

Permalink [Category: Ads, Iowa Caucus, Television]

January 02, 2008

Analysis: Huckabee May Have Gone Too Far

After running an unconventional, surprisingly strong and sometimes strange race to the top tier of the Republican presidential campaign, the former Arkansas governor topped himself Monday with an eyebrow-raising campaign stunt.
He called a news conference to unveil a negative ad that he had just withdrawn from Iowa television stations because, he told a room full of journalists recording the ad, he had a sudden aversion to negative politics. Quite a convenient epiphany.

''If people want to be cynical about it,'' Huckabee said, ''they can be cynical about it.''

If he loses Iowa's caucuses on Thursday, New Year's Eve will forever mark the day Huckabee blew it -- the day a group of reporters stopped laughing with the witty Republican and laughed at him.

Permalink [Category: Ads, Huckabee, Iowa Caucus, Romney Archive]

January 01, 2008

Huckabee foes open their wallets for attack ads

The LA Times

DES MOINES -- It's not just Mike Huckabee's top rival in the Republican race who is responsible for attack ads that have damaged his candidacy in the closing days of the Iowa campaign.
Huckabee has been the target of a $550,000 campaign waged by the conservative anti-tax Club for Growth. An Arkansas man who is responsible for a separate low-budget hit vowed Monday to take his anti-Huckabee campaign to South Carolina, which holds its GOP primary Jan. 19.

The independent ads, combined with those funded by Republican Mitt Romney, appear to have stalled the former Arkansas governor's surge in polls here and nationally.

Permalink [Category: Ads, Huckabee]

Huckabee Won't Air Anti - Romney Ad

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Mike Huckabee said Monday he wouldn't run a TV ad he'd prepared blistering Republican rival Mitt Romney as dishonest. Then he showed it to a room packed with reporters and cameramen.
Huckabee, who has sharply intensified his criticism of the former Massachusetts governor in recent days, tried to reclaim the high road in the midst of a news conference three days before Iowa's presidential caucuses. He told reporters the event had been called to announce the hard-hitting new ad but he had changed his mind about running it on TV.

''We are now committed from now through the rest of the caucuses, that we will run only ads that talk about why I should be president, and not why Mitt Romney should not,'' he said. ''The tipping point was this morning. I just realized that this is not how we run our campaign in this state. We have run it positive. We have gotten here by being positive.''

Permalink [Category: Ads, Huckabee, Iowa Caucus]

December 30, 2007

Huckabee Denounces Romney Attack Ads

AP via NYT

OSCEOLA, Iowa (AP) -- Republican Mike Huckabee on Saturday denounced political attack ads, saying people aren't looking for a president whose campaign is based on what's wrong with someone else.
Huckabee, who has surged to the top of the polls in Iowa with less than a week before the Jan. 3 caucuses, said people want a president who will tell them what he would do if elected. He criticized attack ads aimed at him, saying, ''If I believed half of that stuff, I wouldn't vote for myself.''

He said ads by rival Mitt Romney show the problem with the former Massachusetts governor's campaign.

''Mitt doesn't have anything to stand on except to stand against,'' Huckabee told a crowd of less than 100 people at Boyt Harness Company, a hunting accessory business in Osceola.

Permalink [Category: Ads, Huckabee, Iraq]

December 19, 2007

Huckabee Stands by Christmas Ad

HOUSTON (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Tuesday defended his Christmas ad amid suggestions that the ordained Baptist minister had gone too far mixing religion and politics.
The ad, which is airing in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, shows Huckabee in front of a Christmas tree as he says, ''Are you about worn out by all the television commercials you've been seeing, mostly about politics? Well, I don't blame you. At this time of year sometimes it's nice to pull aside from all of that and just remember that what really matters is the celebration of the birth of Christ and being with our family and friends.''

Huckabee is courting evangelical voters and other religious conservatives in his bid to win the Iowa caucuses Jan. 3. In Texas for a fundraiser, he said the ad was a harmless holiday greeting even though it excludes other religions.

Permalink [Category: Ads, Huckabee, Religion]

December 11, 2007

Romney to Run Ad Against Huckabee

BOSTON (AP) -- His shot at the Republican presidential nomination in jeopardy, Mitt Romney will begin running a TV ad against Iowa front-runner Mike Huckabee on illegal immigration starting Tuesday while weighing how much negative campaigning he can add to the methodical plan he's followed all year.
The ad says the former governors have a lot in common -- but not on illegal immigration, an important issue in Iowa, which will lead off nomination voting with its caucuses on Jan. 3.

''Mitt Romney stood up, and vetoed in-state tuition for illegal aliens, opposed driver's licenses for illegals,'' the ad says. ''Mike Huckabee? Supported in-state tuition benefits for illegal immigrants. Huckabee even supported taxpayer-funded college scholarships for illegal aliens.''

Permalink [Category: Ads, Huckabee, Romney Archive]

December 09, 2007

NBC Decides to Run Conservative - Group Ad

WASHINGTON (AP) -- NBC reversed course Saturday and decided to air a conservative group's television ad thanking U.S. troops.
The ad, by the group Freedom's Watch, asks viewers to remember the troops during the holiday season. NBC had refused to air the ad because it guides viewers to the Freedom's Watch Web site, which NBC said was too political.

But in a statement issued Saturday evening, NBC said:

''We have reviewed and changed our ad standards guidelines and made the decision that our policy will apply to content only and not to a referenced Web site. Based on these amended standards the Freedom's Watch ad will begin to run as early as Sunday.''

Permalink [Category: Ads, Conservatives, Media]

December 06, 2007

Gen. Clark Vouches for Clinton in New Ad

Retired Gen. Wesley Clark: ''I see that Hillary's opponents have started attacking her. That's politics. What this country needs is leadership. I'm Wes Clark. I commanded our forces in Europe when we won the fight to halt ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. I've known Hillary Clinton for 24 years. I know she has what it takes to end the war in Iraq, avert war with Iran and restore our country's standing in the world. These are tough times and Hillary Clinton is the right choice for America.''

Permalink [Category: Ads, Clark, Hillary Clinton Archive]

December 04, 2007

First Negative Ad Against Clinton

WASHINGTON -- Liberal activists plan to begin airing a television ad against Hillary Rodham Clinton in Iowa this week, the first non-Republican negative ad aimed at a Democratic presidential candidate.
The group, Democratic Courage, has accused Clinton of making policy decisions on the basis of polls, not convictions. It planned to introduce the ad Tuesday.

Glenn Hurowitz, the group's president, described the spot as a modest buy that would run on cable only, meaning it won't be seen as much as ads by Clinton and rival Barack Obama, who are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on ads in the state.

Permalink [Category: Ads, Hillary Clinton Archive]

November 23, 2007

Muted Ad Messages in Vogue

Mitt Romney talks about bringing up his five boys. Rudy Giuliani says he's not perfect. Hillary Clinton is praised by a grateful man for saving his son's life.
In a recent spate of campaign commercials, the leading presidential candidates have tried to send reassuring signals, deflect criticism or denigrate their opponents by relying on code phrases and images, rather than explicit language.

"It's the psychological mechanism known as inoculation," says Shanto Iyengar, a professor of communication at Stanford University. "You give people a small dose of the virus, in the hope that later on, when opponents start bashing you on family values or whatever, viewers will have enough of the defense to resist the incoming attacks."

In multi-candidate primaries, analysts say, attacking rivals on the air is risky business and raises the possibility of a voter backlash against negative tactics. So candidates tend to draw contrasts indirectly, often without mentioning their opponents.

Permalink [Category: Ads, Strategy]

November 22, 2007

Election Commission Eases Limits on Some Political Ads

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 — Unions, businesses and interest groups may run television and radio “issue ads” that name candidates in the days before elections, federal regulators said Tuesday, easing previous restrictions.
The unanimous decision by the Federal Election Commission could lead to new commercials next month in Iowa, where the cutoff date for issue ads was just 13 days away. Beyond that, the decision opens the way for even more big-money advertising campaigns by groups trying to influence next year’s elections.

The Supreme Court ruled in June that restrictions on issue ads were unconstitutional, overturning a 2002 campaign law that banned corporations and unions from paying for them within two months of a general election and 30 days of a primary election. But the court offered no clear guidelines for what types of advertisements would be affected, leaving that decision to the F.E.C.

Permalink [Category: Ads]

November 16, 2007

Bill Sweats It Out for Hil in New Web Ad

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Get that man an Actors' Equity card. Bill Clinton is developing a side line as top performer on his wife's comic Web videos.
First was ''The Sopranos'' send-up with the former president lamenting the lack of onion rings at the hometown diner. Now comes a video for new Iowa caucus-goers reassuring them that participating on behalf of Hillary Rodham Clinton on Jan. 3 is simple.

It opens with Clinton huffing on a treadmill envisioning a double cheeseburger. Can you say typecasting?

Permalink [Category: Ads, Bill Clinton, Clinton, Hillary Clinton Archive, Internet, Video Links]

November 14, 2007

Edwards Is First Dem to Go on TV in S.C.

On the same day that his campaign started airing a new TV ad in Iowa, John Edwards becomes the first Democratic presidential contender to unveil a TV ad targeting South Carolina primary voters.
And he takes full advantage of his home field advantage.

"America's Jobs and America's Workers" is a 30-second spot, filmed at the Robbins, S.C., mill where Edwards and his father once worked.

"For too many, it's just about profits and greed. They're wrong. It's about the dignity of the job, and doing what's right for America's workers," Edwards says.

Permalink [Category: Ads, Edwards, South Carolina Primary, Television]

November 13, 2007

Tancredo campaign ad sets off bomb

The LA Times

A terrorism scenario in a shopping mall is the set piece for the GOP presidential candidate's commercial reviling illegal immigration.
Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo on Monday unveiled a television ad depicting a hooded terrorist detonating a bomb inside a shopping mall, a message the Colorado congressman said he hoped would vault illegal immigration to its rightful place at the center of the campaign.

Critics accused Tancredo of fear-mongering.

The 30-second spot, which began airing on cable television in Iowa, casts Tancredo as the only candidate brave enough to buck political convention and discuss the true threat of immigration -- terrorists crossing into the U.S.

Permalink [Category: Ads, Immigration, Security, Tancredo]

McCain Calls for End to Independent Ads

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and rival John McCain's campaign sparred Monday over an independent group's advertising campaign that is promoting McCain's stance on security and spending issues.
Romney, campaigning in New Hampshire, criticized the organization, the Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America, noting that it is not required to identify its donors and can accept contributions of any size.

''It is an entire end-run on any effort to control campaign spending and offer transparency,'' Romney said. He added that legislation championed by McCain in 2002 to overhaul campaign finance had turned out to be a failure

Permalink [Category: Ads, McCain Archive]

November 10, 2007

Clinton Talks Energy in New TV Ad

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- Hillary Rodham Clinton began airing new television ads in New Hampshire and Iowa Friday highlighting the New York senator's plan for energy independence and creating new sources of power.
In the ads, Clinton is shown speaking to voters and promoting her proposed $50 billion strategic energy fund.

''And where would I get the money?'' Clinton asks. ''I would take away the tax subsidies from the oil companies. They don't need your tax dollars any more.''

The 30-second ads come days after Clinton campaigned in both early voting states and unveiled several new clean energy proposals.

Permalink [Category: Ads, Alternative Energy, Hillary Clinton Archive]

November 09, 2007

Romney Ad Returns to Immigration Debate

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney began airing a TV ad this week in New Hampshire and Iowa touting his opposition to illegal immigration.
The ad, titled ''Change Immigration,'' highlights Romney's plan to secure the border, cut funding for so-called ''sanctuary cities'' and oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants. It taps into Republican voters' frustration with Washington's failure to deal with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country.

''We all know Hillary Clinton and the Democrats have it wrong on illegal immigration,'' Romney says, repeating his frequent criticism of the New York senator and Democratic front-runner. ''Our party should not make that mistake.''

Permalink [Category: Ads, Immigration, Romney Archive]

November 07, 2007

Your Ad Here: Web Surprise Hits ’08 Race

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 — Visitors to Gay.com can sign up to find the perfect dating partner, advice on sex and how-to articles on same-sex marriage and parenting.
Over the course of at least two days in August, they may well also have seen banner advertisements about the Republican presidential candidacy of Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, according to an analysis of campaign Web advertising provided by the Nielsen Online, AdRelevance, monitoring service.

At least 32,000 times over those two days, users clicking on the site got a Romney ad like one saying “Mitt Romney for President — Join Team Mitt!” and a link to the candidate’s Web site.

A regular site for advertisers like Jeep and Toyota, Gay.com was not exactly what Mr. Romney’s campaign had in mind when it set out this summer to blanket the Web with messages about the candidate.

Permalink [Category: Ads, Internet]

Obama Talks of Personal Life in Radio Ad

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama offers a personal account of growing up without his father in a new ad airing on South Carolina radio stations that target black listeners.
''My father left when I was two. I only saw him once after that. My mother did her best, struggling to take care of my sister and me,'' Obama says in the statewide ad airing on 36 stations.

His father was from Kenya, his mother from Wichita, Kan. Obama was born in Honolulu. His parents divorced when he was two and his father returned to Kenya. His mother later married an Indonesian student and the family moved to Jakarta. Obama returned to Hawaii when he was 10 to live with his maternal grandparents.

Permalink [Category: Ads, Obama Archive]

November 05, 2007

Still No Giuliani TV Ads, but He’s Ready for the Web

It is a question that both Democratic and Republican strategists have been asking often: When is Rudolph W. Giuliani going to start advertising his presidential candidacy on television?
With all of the major campaigns — and even many of the more marginal ones — now running television commercials, Mr. Giuliani’s continued absence from the airwaves has puzzled his rivals. That is likely to continue for at least a while longer.

Yesterday, aides to Mr. Giuliani, a Republican, said he would begin a major push this week to introduce the pre-Sept. 11 “Rudy” to voters who might not know his history well, highlighting his time not only as New York City’s mayor but also as a federal prosecutor and a Justice Department official.

But rather than turning to television, the campaign is planning a series of videos that will be posted on Mr. Giuliani’s Web site and on YouTube and other Internet sites.

Permalink [Category: Ads, Giuliani Archive, Internet]

November 03, 2007

Romney, Obama Air New TV Ads in NH

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- Democrat Barack Obama promoted his tax relief plan and Republican Mitt Romney likened Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's experience to an internship in television ads that the two presidential candidates began airing Friday in New Hampshire.
Romney, a former venture capitalist and Massachusetts governor, tells voters in the 30-second ad that Clinton lacks sufficient experience to run the country and that at best she has been an intern in the White House.

''Hillary Clinton wants to run the largest enterprise in the world. She hasn't run a corner store. She hasn't run a state. She hasn't run a city,'' Romney says in the spot. ''She has never run anything. And the idea that she could learn to be president as an internship just doesn't make any sense.''

Permalink [Category: Ads, Obama Archive, Romney Archive]

October 30, 2007

Giuliani Talks About His Prostate Cancer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican Rudy Giuliani talks about surviving prostate cancer in a New Hampshire radio ad promoting the tax breaks he says he would give families to buy private health insurance.
''I had prostate cancer, five, six years ago,'' the presidential contender says in the ad, using his illness to illustrate a message that the private insurance market will provide the best care.

''My chance of surviving prostate cancer, and thank God I was cured of it, in the United States: 82 percent,'' he says. ''My chances of surviving prostate cancer in England: only 44 percent under socialized medicine.''

Permalink [Category: Ads, Giuliani Archive, Health Care]

October 25, 2007

McCain Mocks Clinton's Woodstock Project

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- Republican John McCain contrasts images of Woodstock and his years as a Vietnam prisoner of war in a new television ad that pokes fun at Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The commercial, set to air on New Hampshire television Thursday, decries a proposal, since scrapped, to spend $1 million for a museum in Bethel, N.Y., site of the August 1969 rock festival. Clinton and her fellow New York senator, Chuck Schumer, had backed the plan.

The ad highlights McCain's criticism of excessive Washington spending, reminds voters of the Arizona senator's decorated war record and shows off his humor.

Permalink [Category: Ads, Hillary Clinton Archive, McCain Archive]

October 11, 2007

The Washington Times

Mitt Romney is portrayed in a new ad by a Republican group as a serial flip-flopper, and a former senior Bush administration official says the description is beginning to stick.
The 30-second ad (below), airing in Iowa and on Fox News for the next 10 days, portrays the former Massachusetts governor as changing his positions on abortion, gun rights, even his opinion of former President Ronald Reagan. Paid for by the Log Cabin Republicans, a homosexual rights organization, the ad uses Mr. Romney's own words from a 1994 debate.

"He's changed his views so many times it's really hard to predict what a Romney administration would be like," Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon said yesterday. "This education effort on our part is about more than gay rights, it's about this man's principle and whether you can trust him."

Permalink [Category: Ads, Gay Lesbian Rights, Romney Archive]

October 05, 2007

GOP Group Targets Romney in New TV Ad

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Republican organization that advocates gay rights is targeting GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney in an ad campaign, seeking to undercut his support among social conservatives by highlighting his past statements in support of abortion rights.
Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, has spent months courting social conservatives in key primary states, trying to erase doubts about his previous moderate stands.

But in a 30-second television ad that will air in Iowa and on national cable, the Log Cabin Republicans use clips from a debate during Romney's unsuccessful 1994 campaign for U.S. Senate from Massachusetts to portray him as an enemy of religious conservatives.

''For years he's fought conservatives and religious extremists,'' an announcer declares.

Permalink [Category: Ads, Gay Lesbian Rights, Romney Archive]

September 27, 2007

McCain to Run Ads in New Hampshire

NEW YORK (AP) -- Republican John McCain says talking tough and overseeing a business doesn't always translate into the credentials necessary to be a wartime commander in chief, a clear swipe at his chief presidential rivals.
The Arizona senator and Vietnam veteran planned to discuss his plans for the military in a speech Thursday amid signs of a revival for his candidacy. The latest New Hampshire poll showed improvement for McCain, who was returning to the state this weekend for a busy schedule of events.

More important, a campaign once low on cash planned to run its first ads of the 2008 race -- largely biographical spots -- in the coming days, also in New Hampshire.

Permalink [Category: Ads, McCain Archive, New Hampshire Primary]

September 25, 2007

Obama to Air First Ad in New Hampshire

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama planned to air his first television ads in New Hampshire starting Tuesday, appealing to voters to believe his message of change.
In South Carolina, meanwhile, Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton began running a radio ad saying she has a record of looking out for all Americans. And Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney also broadcast a radio ad in South Carolina and in Iowa opposing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to New York.

Democrat Bill Richardson planned to return to New Hampshire television on Tuesday with an ad that emphasizes his no-troops-in-Iraq position and the support of online bloggers.

Permalink [Category: Ads, New Hampshire Primary, Obama Archive]

September 21, 2007

Romney blasts GOP

The LA Times

After hinting at his differences for months, Mitt Romney (R) strafes his own party today in an effort to show he’s a candidate of change.
“It’s time for a change,” the tieless governor says above soothing brass instrumentals, wearing a button-down shirt and surrounded by fall foliage.

In a new ad, the former Massachusetts governor accuses Republicans of “ethical standards that are a punch line for Jay Leno” and of acting “like Democrats.”

In fact, you’d think a Democrat was in the White House to hear Romney the ad, “Change Begins with Us,” which went up today in New Hampshire and will air in Iowa beginning later this week.

Permalink [Category: Ads, Romney Archive]

September 19, 2007

Rudy says he's liberals' 'worst nightmare'

The Politico

Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign is up with a radio ad in Iowa claming he is liberals’ “worst nightmare” — an effort to get early voters to think ahead to November when they caucus in January.
The spot, called “Nightmare,” shows that last week’s MoveOn.org ad bashing Army Gen. David Petraeus is the gift that keeps on giving for Republicans.

“MoveOn.org is the most powerful left-wing group in the country,” the ad, which is running statewide, intones. “They spent millions electing anti-war liberals. And publicly brag how the Democratic Party is theirs — bought and paid for. Why is MoveOn attacking Rudy Giuliani? Because he’s their worst nightmare.”

“They know Rudy is a Republican who can beat the Democrats,” continues the narrator, in the style of a disaster movie voice-over. “And they know, no matter what they say — Rudy will never, ever back down.”

Permalink [Category: Ads, Giuliani Archive]

Davis seeks probe of MoveOn ad

The Washington Times

The top Republican on the House oversight committee yesterday called for an investigation into possible elections violations by the New York Times for selling an advertisement to the liberal group MoveOn.org at a reduced rate.
Rep. Thomas M. Davis III of Virginia said the discount may equate to an illegal in-kind political contribution by the Times to the group.

In a letter sent yesterday to Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Henry A Waxman, California Democrat, Mr. Davis asked for a full committee hearing on the matter.

MoveOn paid $65,000 for a full-page ad (download pdf) that criticized the character of Iraq war commander Gen. David H. Petraeus — about $117,000 less than the Times' "open rate" for an ad of that type and size.

Permalink [Category: Ads]

Romney Targets Gay Marriage in New Ad

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney is launching a radio ad touting the strength of his opposition to gay marriage.
Romney, who has come under criticism from conservatives for his past support of some gay rights issues, says he is the only major GOP candidate backing a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

''Not all Republican candidates agree, but defending marriage is the right thing to do,'' Romney says in the 60-second spot to begin airing Wednesday.

The ad is meant to set him apart from Fred Thompson, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani in the minds of conservative voters.

Permalink [Category: Ads, Gay Lesbian Rights, Romney Archive]

September 18, 2007

MoveOn.org goes after Giuliani

The Boston Globe

Republican Rudy Giuliani scored some political points last week by condemning an ad bought by MoveOn.org to attack the top US military commander in Iraq and by trying to tar Democrat Hillary Clinton with the controversy.
Today, the antiwar group, which claims 3.2 million members, hit back.

Its political action committee bought an ad that attacks the former New York mayor for skipping out on meetings of the Iraq Study Group, which called last December for sweeping changes in US strategy in Iraq.

The ad accuses of Giuliani of going "AWOL" and eventually quitting the study group when he had the chance to influence policy and instead making paid speeches. The spot will run in Iowa, site of the first caucus of the presidential nomination process. Giuliani's camp has said they would wear what they called MoveOn.org's character assassination tactics as "a badge of honor."

Permalink [Category: Ads, Giuliani Archive, Iraq]

September 17, 2007

Giuliani Continues Criticizing Clinton

LOUDON, N.H. (AP) -- Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani on Sunday continued calling on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to denounce a liberal group's advertisement and apologize for what he calls her disrespectful treatment of a general.
Giuliani, during a pre-race tour of the pits at New Hampshire International Speedway, told reporters that Clinton has shown weakness in not rebuking MoveOn's full-page newspaper ad last week, which criticized Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq.

''What she did was just plain wrong,'' Giuliani told reporters before the NASCAR-Nextel Cup-Sylvania 300. ''It was wrong for her to attack the integrity of a commanding general in a time of war.''

The MoveOn ad in The New York Times asked, ''General Petraeus or General Betray Us?'' Giuliani followed up on Friday with an ad in the Times that attempted to link Clinton to the attack on Petraeus.

Permalink [Category: Ads, Giuliani Archive, Hillary Clinton Archive]

September 14, 2007

Angered by an Antiwar Ad, Giuliani Seeks Equal Space