The DNC has made a surprise national cable ad buy today. The ad makes a major attackon the GOP- saying the chamber is trying to steal our elections. But will it work? It also invokes Bush- is that effective? More below..
Ratcheting up the debate over the influence of outside groups in congressional elections, the Democratic National Committee has made a major ad purchase pushing the case that the November elections could very well be "stolen" by foreign influences.
The committee is airing a spot on national cable this coming week that turns an already harsh spotlight on the roles being played by former Bush strategists Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie in addition to the Chamber of Commerce. Pivoting off reports that the business lobby has used foreign donations for its campaign activities, the spot ends with fairly conspicuous if not ominous shot of Chinese currency being stacked up -- ostensibly for use against Democratic candidates.
"Karl Rove, Ed Gillespie: They're Bush cronies. The US Chamber of Commerce: They're shills for big business," the ad goes. "And they're stealing our democracy. Spending Millions from secret donors to elect Republicans to do their bidding in Congress. It appears they're even taking secret foreign money to influence our elections. It's incredible, Republicans benefiting from secret foreign money. Tell the Bush Crowd and the Chamber of Commerce - stop stealing our democracy."
Here is the ad injecting a very potent issue into an election with voters already anrgy and wrought with fears. I bet the fear of Chinses business folks trying to fund campaigns in MO,PA etc.. wont go over well.
UPDATED-
I got this from MoveOn this morning. They plan to hit the GOP/Chamber with tough ads on the issue of foriegn comapnies buyign our elections. It appears they plan to run ads first for feingold and some other progressives.MoveOn does excellent ads andif they raise the bucks they keep the story alive i think in a effective tough way...
From MoveOn:
So we've been up working overnight on a new emergency ad campaign aimed at those Republicans who've been benefiting from the Chamber's help and evidently from its foreign funding—and aimed at forcing the Chamber to reveal its secret contributors. We can launch these ads immediately to keep this story from dying.
This is a huge opportunity but it wasn't in our election plan—so we need to raise $350,000 right away to do it. Can you contribute $5?
https://pol.moveon.org/...