http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/g...endent_Ads.html

Independent ads target Obama on taxes, abortion
By JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON — Ads assailing Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama on taxes and abortion are coming out in key states and on national cable networks — aired by independent groups largely financed by two wealthy donors.

The abortion ad, a $350,000 spot that will appear during the next week in Ohio and New Mexico, aims to cast Obama as out of the mainstream, even among abortion rights advocates. Aired by BornAliveTruth.org, it singles out his efforts while in the Illinois Senate to defeat the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. Obama and abortion rights forces in Illinois have said the bill would have undermined the landmark Supreme Court case on abortion, Roe v. Wade.

The tax ad is the work of North Carolina-based RightChange.com, which plans to spend about $1.5 million in the next two weeks on national cable networks including Fox News Channel, CNN and CNN Headline News, said spokesman Tim Pittman.

The new ads are part of a sudden surge in advertising by outside groups that is rapidly filling airwaves as the presidential contest enters its final seven weeks.

Two Democratic-leaning political action committees aired an anti-McCain ad on CNN and MSNBC that features a former fellow prisoner of war criticizing Republican presidential nominee John McCain's temperament. The Service Employees International Union on Sunday began spending $2 million in six battleground states depicting McCain as out of touch on economic issues.

The ad questioning McCain's temperament is partly financed by Democracy for America, a political action committee headed by James Dean and founded by his brother, Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Howard Dean is no longer affiliated with the group. The ad is only scheduled to run for three days and cost about $50,000, according to spokesman Daniel I. Medress.

BornAliveTruth.org is organized as a nonprofit entity commonly known as a 527 for the section of the tax code that regulates such groups. Unlike political action groups, these organizations can raise money from individuals in unlimited amounts. The main donor of BornAliveTruth is Raymond Ruddy, a prominent anti-abortion figure in Massachusetts who supported Mitt Romney for president in the GOP primary.

The ad features Gianna Jessen, a 31-year-old motivational speaker from Nashville, Tenn., adopted as a child after a failed abortion. "Sen. Obama, please support born alive infant protections . I'm living proof these babies have a right to live."

As a state senator, Obama opposed three legislative efforts, in 2001, 2002 and 2003, to give legal protections to any aborted fetus that showed signs of life. The 2003 measure was virtually identical to a bill President Bush signed into law in 2002.

While Obama has said he would have supported the federal law, he and other opponents of the Illinois bill have said it would have had greater consequences on state laws governing abortion. The Obama campaign also has pointed out that Illinois already had legislation protecting aborted fetuses that were born alive and were considered able to survive.

Jill Stanek, an organizer of BornAliveTruth, said the Illinois legislation would protect pre-viable fetuses as well. "He took a leadership role in seeing that this bill did not see the light of day," she said.

Stanek's stances on social issues have also put her at odds with McCain. She and the Republican presidential nominee, for instance, differ on embryonic stem cell research. McCain supports it as a possible key to treating diseases; she opposes it because it destroys human embryos. In a 2004 column on the Internet publication World Net Daily, Stanek compared actor Michael J. Fox's support for such research to "high-tech cannibalism." Fox has Parkinson's disease.

Rightchange.com, the 527 group sponsoring the tax ad, is financed largely by North Carolina pharmaceutical executive Fred Eshelman, Pittman said. Eshelman has contributed more than $200,000 to Republican candidates and party organizations since 2002, according to Federal Election Commission records.

In the ad, a man with a bullhorn atop a high bridge complains of "change" that mostly amounts to higher taxes. He tumbles from the bridge as people gasp, but a bungee cord saves him. "Change: Before you fall for it, get the facts," the man says.

The group's criticisms of Obama's proposals are based largely on a July 29 Wall Street Journal op-ed piece by Michael Boskin, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George H.W. Bush. The column included some faulty assumptions about Obama's proposals. For example, it said Obama might place a new tax of up to 12.4 percent on earnings now exempt from the Social Security payroll tax. Obama has said his new tax would not exceed 4 percent, and it would apply only to annual incomes above $250,000.

Currently, all income above $102,000 is exempt from Social Security taxes.

"Senator Obama will provide a tax cut to 95 percent of American families, while John McCain will give no tax relief to more than 100 million middle-class families," Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

___

Associated Press writer Charles Babington contributed to this report.

I saw this on huffpo....once again a lie....and aborting is not the issue its the economy....

I think this will seal the deal for those independents who will be scared by the GOP crazies....

The anti-McCain ad is excellent. Too bad it's only going to run for three days!

Don't the liberal 527's have more money than that?

It's really a great ad. Obama should run it. Should have been running for a while now.

Great ad. Just the kind of fighting spirit and spine the Democrats so desperately need but lack, usually.

WHERE THE HELL R THE DEM 527 ADS ANYWAY!???? WE NEED THEM!

I don't know where the hell the are. But I donated money to them and am about to write a letter to moveon.org about this or something. They need to get on the ball and post a response to that.

it's already sealed and been decided....we are toast...

not sure what you are saying, can you elaborate on your statement?

Why aren't Dems running more ads linking McCain and the Rs to this crappy economy?
This image would be perfect A bunch of cutups

They have been talking about it and they've been releasing ads about them saying they are full of crap. It seems like McCain's ads are getting more air time and it's really making me sick. They also act like Biden and the Clintons are nowhere to be found and they are on the trail fighting just as hard as Obama. It's like well yeah you say that but then you don't show any coverage of what they are doing. I am so sick of the MSM.

These anti-abortion ads could be bad for Obama because it is an issue that a lot of people care about and they need to know the truth because some of them are being convinced to vote for Obama when they have never voted for any democrat.

I mean I'm not exactly concerned as hell about it. But the Obama campaign and moveon need to know so they can be steps ahead of them.

BTW: Most independents are voting for other right leaning third candidates because they can't stand McCain so I don't know if I would be that concerned about them taking away from Obama. If anything I'd be concerned about them taking away from McCain but you obviously aren't a McCain supporter. lol

BTW, Laura...

I have been saying I look forward to a mccain/palin presidency, especially if palin ends up as pres somehow, and I am very serious...here is what i mean

a. of course I would like to avert the following by having obama win, but if he doesnt or if it is stolen, in both cases ----

b. if we either are so corrupt they steal another one or if the American public is so ignorant, immature and such religious extremists that they actually elect these two, then we want the most extreme person they can offer up in the most powerful position possible...palin fits that bill...

why? simple, it is common knowledge and an obvious fact that everything she would do would be the opposite of what this country stands for from a social point of view and would be the most disastrous economic policies imaginable and the result would be in short order massive problems that we either fix or just walk away from...

the worst possible scenario is mccain staying as prez for 8 yrs, the social issues might not be damaged enough to make people DEMAND change, but the economy will be so lopsided to the wealthy that people wont have time or energy to worry about social issues, they will be doing everything they possibly can just to put food on the table...in this scenario it would take much longer for the public to come to that epiphany moment, that moment when they wake up and say "oh shit, we are fucked"



republicans want to go back to the gilded age, of that there is no question, but sadly most americans done even know what that is...

If that happens I feel like I can't live in the same country as these people that are so full of hatred though, and I don't want my name tied to them. So basically either I'm trying to get out of here if that happens or I want the red and blue states split up. lol

EDIT: But I think saying we are toast is a little bit much personally. I don't think it's over at all at this point.

mccains campaign is right about one thing, many americans do care more about some person they dont know who might get an abortion or marry a same sex partner, than they care about all this highfalootin economy gobblygook...

they dont understand it and while they may understand there are problems, they will trust their parent (republican party) to make the bad people go away ....

those ads are almost reality but not quite. They leave out some very important information that really does change the meaning of the vote/taxes drastically, and in Obama's favor.

You do realize ads lie right? I mean as a rule most political ads have absolutely nothing at all to do with what either candidate will do if they are elected, but they are merely an attempt by that particular side to "scare" you into not voting for the competition.

Do what I do, record everything until after the election and fast forward through ALL advertising, commercial and political. Then READ what the candidate's stances are on the ISSUES. You'll be better informed and your life will be a lot less depressing, irritating and confusing.