The powerful Service Employees International Union announced today it was starting a $2.1 million television ad campaign in six battleground states on behalf of Senator Barack Obama.þþThis is the second major ad campaign undertaken on Mr. Obama’s behalf by the union and comes as the S.E.I.U. increasing the number of its members deployed around country working full-time for the Democratic ticket. The ad buy is targeted for Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa, and stresses the theme of the economy.þþ“We continue to look for opportunities to discuss the economy and issues of concern to working people,” said Anna Burger, the union’s secretary-treasurer in a conference call on Sunday. “This will not be the last you hear from us on television.”þþThe union said that it had 1,400 of its members released from their regular jobs to work on the campaign, and that it has already knocked on 65,000 doors and registered 45,000 people to vote. “Our people will be talking to members of our union and other unions and to people like them,’’ added Ms. Burger.þþAccording to Ms. Burger, issue “No. 1” with this constituency is the economy, especially among families who are straining to make ends meet.þþþTo this end, the ad features a working class mother talking about how her husband lost his job and now she has to work two shifts. It then has a clip of Senator John McCain saying he knows little about economics, followed by a clip of Mr. Obama saying that his tax cut would benefit middle class families three times as much as Mr. McCain’s.þþThe union-backed effort comes as several wealthy political operatives on the right who had been behind the Swift Boat ads attacking Senator John Kerry in 2004 have amassed millions of dollars for television ads attacking Mr. Obama, according to a report in the Washington Post. The group, called the American Issues Project, is one of many outside groups on both the left and the right that are expected to run television blitzes in the last two months of the campaign.þþMs. Burger said that the union ads will focus on issues, not personalities: “ While others want to talk about lipstick on pigs, we want to talk about issues. ’’þþDuring the primary race, Mr. Obama had signaled to outside groups that he would prefer that they not campaign on his behalf and that all efforts be re-directed to his official campaign.þþAs an outside group, the union cannot coordinate its efforts with the Obama campaign. When asked about Mr. Obama’s request that these groups stand down, the SEIU’s national political director Jon ) Youngdahl said “We can’t take direction from the candidates on whether to run (ads) or not. We work independent on the campaign.” þ
Source: NY Times
