February 14, 2007, 11:13 am
War at Home: The Ad Wars Begin Anew
By Kate Phillips
This just fell into our mailbox this morning as another sign that as early as it is, the situation in Iraq has ramifications for senators and representatives up for re-election in 2008
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced today that it intends to begin on Friday running newspaper ads against two Republican senators, John Sununu of New Hampshire and Gordon Smith of Oregon. Both joined the majority of Republicans in the Senate to block a debate and vote on the Warner-Levin compromise resolution opposing the administration’s Iraq strategy.
A headline over a picture of two soldiers reads:
They have to follow Bush’s orders. Senator Smith Doesn’t.
(The same goes for an ad against Senator Sununu.)
In addition, several anti-war groups promise to start their own ad campaigns against those two senators and others. Tom Mazzie, head of Americans Against Escalation of the War in Iraq, and former Representative Tom Andrews of the Win Without War Coalition, told The Politico that they both intend to begin multi-million dollar ad campaigns and grassroots lobbying efforts.
Mr. Mazzie said his group planned to spend $6.5 million on a television ad campaign.
The debate in the House resumed this morning, amid President Bush’s upcoming news conference.
Representative Pete Hoekstra, co-author of a Republican letter urging his fellow members to broaden the debate against the resolution to include the “war on terrorism,” again this morning derided the resolution as a “stay-the-course” statement.
Following a bit later, Republican Kay Granger of Texas called the bill “a resolution of irresolution.” She said it was ”
at best confusing, at worst immoral. It pledges to support the troops in the field but washes its hands of what they’re doing. We can’t have it both ways.”
The Democratic majority expects the measure to pass on Friday, with perhaps two dozen or more Republicans joining them.
thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com |
