On Friday, the American Future Fund plans to run a week's worth of ads on CNN, Fox and the four Sunday talk shows to try and derail the House health care reform bill.
Nick Ryan, a spokesman for the little-known Iowa-based non-profit says that the initial cable buy will be $450,000 and that the ads might run longer depending on whether the vote is pushed back. The fund spent more than $200,000 over the last two weeks on a round of print and radio ads that have run inside the Beltway which are also aimed at killing the House bill. AFF does not disclose its funding sources.
The ads are the handiwork of GOP message man Larry McCarthy, who sparked controversy more than two decades ago as producer of the racially tinged "Willie Horton" commercials that damaged Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis. The AFF messages employ a newsy peg line: "If the government can't run a flu program, can we trust it to run America's entire health care system?"
Meanwhile, other conservative groups inside the Beltway have been running ads to influence key swing votes in the Senate. Americans for Tax Reform launched a TV blitz in Nebraska two weeks ago targeting moderate Democratic Senator Ben Nelson. The commercials are expected to run another two weeks says an ATR official. The group, he adds, is also "looking to educate voters on the tax issues" in the Senate bill in several other states where moderate Democrats worry about health care reforms in part because the final the measure is expected to include a version of the public insurance option.
Comments
To post a comment, you must provide a name and a valid e-mail address. Messages must be limited to 400 words. By using this service you agree not to post material that is obscene, harassing, defamatory, or otherwise objectionable. Although Under the Influence does not monitor comments posted to this site (and has no obligation to), it reserves the right to delete, edit, or move any material that it deems to be in violation of this rule.