The free-market group Americans for Prosperity is launching a $1.7 million ad blitz on October 5 attacking health reform legislation in Congress. The spots will run for one week on national cable stations.

The ads, which are the handiwork of Patients First, one of AFP's two health care projects, feature a female doctor talking broadly about problems with the bills working their way through Congress, and stress that it would be better to "fix medicare first," given its financial state.

Stay tuned for more commercials this month from AFP, which sources say has raised upwards of $20 million this year for its health care ads and related efforts. The outfit has spent about $5 million so far on the campaign. "We're going to continue pushing hard as long as Congress is debating health care," says Amy Menefee, the group's communications director.