The business coalitions Employers for a Healthy Economy and Start Over have teamed up on a multi-million dollar ad blitz against the Senate health care reform bill. The commercials will run on national cable TV with special targeting in nine states.

The two groups, which have some overlapping members such as the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have had slightly different approaches before with Start Over focusing on grassroots efforts while the employers group handled advertising. Jade West, a top lobbyist with the wholesalers group, says that now "the two coalitions are merging missions."

Further, West adds that Start Over is now "asking our members to do grassroots" over the Thanksgiving recess to coincide with the ad effort.  Together, the two coalitions comprise 186 employer trade associations and say they represent hundreds of thousands of businesses in all fifty states.

The new ads, entitled "crisis," urge senators not to pass the Democratic health care legislation slated for debate after the recess. A press release announcing the ads says they warn about "our future that slips deeper into debt" and stresses that the legislation will "result in higher health care costs." The states where the commercials are targeted include Arkansas, Louisiana, Maine, Nebraska and Virginia - each the home of swing-vote senators. The latest ads come after two earlier rounds of expensive buys by the employers group which together cost close to $15 million, according to sources.