On the Campaign Trail with Ed Tibbetts

MoveOn.org is launching a new television ad in Iowa tomorrow, the day presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain makes his first general election appearance in the state.

The ad criticizes McCain on Iraq and is timed to coincide with President Bush’s declaration five years ago that major combat operations in Iraq were over.

The ad is below. “Voters need to know Sen. McCain would continue President Bush’s failed policies — in Iraq and elsewhere. A vote for him is basically a vote for a third Bush term,” says Eli Pariser, MoveOn’s executive director.

McCain’s campaign referred my call to the Republican National Committee.

“MoveOn.org is joining Barack Obama and the DNC in maliciously misquoting John McCain. At nearly every event, Obama bemoans the ‘negative tone’ of politics, even while groups that support him are now running negative ads. Now, Obama should prove his rhetoric is more than ‘just words’ and stand up to MoveOn.org,” said Alex Conant, an RNC spokesman.

MoveOn has endorsed Obama. It says it is spending $160,000 on the ad in Iowa and New Mexico, part of a monthlong $1 million campaign. The ad will run for a week.

I posted earlier about John McCain’s new health care ad in Iowa. The Service Employees International Union, which has put up an ad in Ohio and Washington, D.C., attacking McCain, isn’t following suit here. But just the same, here’s a look at the ad. Wouldn’t be surprised to see it here soon.

John McCain is launching his first general election strike in Iowa. His campaign announed today he’ll air a new television ad in the state to promote his health care plan.

Here’s the ad.

The 60-second ad, titled “Health Care Action,” shows  McCain saying the problem with health care is not quality but cost and availability. He’s proposed a $5,000 tax credit to help defray insurance costs.

“I can characterize my approach on health care by choice and competition, affordability and availability,” he says.

McCain’s $5,000 tax credit is familiar to Iowans. At a health care forum in Davenport last October, he pitched the idea.

The credit would be available even to people without tax liability.

Critics say the credit isn’t enough to cover health care’s rising costs because it throws individuals into an expensive individual market.

“The major flaw is it shifts costs onto working families,” said Stephanie Mueller, a spokeperson for the Service Employee’s International Union, which is backing Obama. SEIU is airing ads in Ohio and Washington, D.C., criticizing McCain’s health care ideas.

The ad is airing statewide. The Arizona senator will be in Des Moines on Thursday. It’ll be his first general election visit to the state.

Tom O’Donnell, who served nine years as an aide to ex-congressman Lane Evans, has been picked to be Rep. Phil Hare’s new chief of staff.

O’Donnell will replace Dennis King, who retired at the end of last month.

King, a Florida native, was Evans’ chief of staff for his 24 years in Congress, then went to work for Hare.

“Tom is extremely bright and capable and he understands the values of 17th District families,” Hare said in a statement. “I have the utmost confidence in his ability to lead my entire operation into the future.”

Hare also paid tribue to King, an affable guy who first went to Congress to work for Dante Fascell of Florida. In a floor speech last month, Hare mused that people might wonder how a Duke University graduate with a law degree from Georgetown might be pals with a Rock Island factory worker. “It’s simple,” Hare said. “Dennis cares about the people of the 17th District as much as I do.”

I’m a little late in reporting this, but U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, is interested in a pending vacancy on the House’s Energy and Commerce Committee.

Braley now sits on the House’s Oversight and Government Reform and Small Business panels. He’s long been interested in Energy and Commerce, though, with its jurisdiction over energy and health care issues.

Braley’s interest comes as Rep. Albert Wynn, D-Maryland, prepares to resign from Congress. (In fact, as I write, Roll Call is reporting that Wynn’s announced he’ll step down immediately).

It says several members are interested in the slots, including Braley and three other freshmen.

Braley’s spokesman, Jeff Giertz, says the Waterloo congressman has already made his interest known to Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Among the arguments being made: There currently are no Iowa members on the panel. Also, he’s been a help to the DCCC, the House Democrats’ campaign arm.

The hitch is the Energy and Commerce Committee is what’s considered an “exclusive” panel. The rules say if he gets it, Braley would have to give up his other committee posts.

Giertz says waivers are common, so that wouldn’t necessarily happen. They’re not saying which panel he’d jettison if it came to that.

I had a chat with Chuck Laudner today. The former executive director of the Republican Party of Iowa and aide to Rep. Steve King, has signed on to be the campaign manager for David Hartsuch’s congressional bid against Rep. Bruce Braley. (First reported here by Questions, Comments and Insults).

Laudner, as does Hartsuch, concedes he won’t raise as much money as Braley. But Laudner says they can generate enough money to be competitive. He estimates that’ll be $1 million.

Laudner says he’s not worried about raising that.

We’ll see. The last campaign cycle, Mike Whalen raised $2.4 million. And that was a closely watched open seat, and fundraising started nearly two years out from the election. Hartsuch, who just filed for the office a few weeks ago, hasn’t filed a financial report with the FEC yet,which is required if you raise or spend $5,000.

Braley, on the other hand, has raised nearly $500,000.

That said, if Hartsuch raises a million he’ll open some eyes.

People in the QC may also recall that the Bettendorf Republican didn’t really distinguish himself in fundraising in his 2006 GOP primary against Maggie Tinsman. He still won, though.

Laudner says Hartsuch will spend a lot of time working the grass roots. “We have to organize our race like a caucus,” he says.