MoveOn.org Targets McCain in Iowa and New Hampshire
Washington Post ^ | 18 January 2007 | Chris Cilliza

MoveOn.org Targets McCain in Iowa and New Hampshire Over the past several election cycles, Moveon.org has demonstrated a willingness to throw its weight around in the political process.


Today provides yet another example, as the influential liberal group is up with television commercials intended label Sen. John McCain -- the leading Republican candidate for president in 2008 -- as the leading supporter of sending more U.S. troops to Iraq.


In the ad, as images of McCain and President Bush flash across the screen, a narrator intones: "John McCain has done more than just embrace George Bush's failed policy in Iraq. It's actually his idea to escalate the war there." (Watch it below.)


Tom Mattzie, Moveon's Washington director, echoed that theme in an interview with intrepid washingtonpost.com political producer Ed O'Keefe. "McCain's been for escalation since before Bush was for escalation," he said.


The ad went up today and will run for the next week in Iowa and New Hampshire, which, not coincidentally, are poised to cast the first votes of the 2008 campaign. The ad is running at 400 gross rating points in the Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Quad Cities media markets in Iowa, and in the Manchester market in New Hampshire. Moveon is also running the commercial on cable television nationally with a specific emphasis on New York City and Washington, D.C. Moveon is spending $230,000 on the ad buy.


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