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National Democrats continue to bet heavily on Social Security privatization as a trump card in the 2008 elections, launching attack ads in three more districts Tuesday that accuse GOP candidates of supporting risky private accounts.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is now up with at least eight ads on the topic, while Senate Democrats are using the issue in ads in Louisiana and Oregon.
Tuesday’s additions go after a pair of Pennsylvania candidates — Rep. Phil English and top challenger Lou Barletta — as well as former Rep. Mike Sodrel (Ind.). And in another Pennsylvania race, Rep. Jason Altmire (D) is also up with a new ad linking former Rep. Melissa Hart (R) to President Bush’s privatization plan.
The Sodrel ad is similar to a DCCC predecessor in Rep. Christopher Shays’s (R-Conn.) district, targeting him for saying recently that the economy “fundamentally is in good shape” and accusing him of “gambling” with Social Security.
The ads against English and Barletta aren’t the first the DCCC has run against them on the issue.
The English ad brings the issue more in focus, casting privatization as English’s “plan” to deal with the current financial crisis and struggling seniors.
The Barletta ad links him to Bush and wonders aloud, “with the markets in freefall, where would our safety net be now?” Barletta is challenging Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.).
Barletta campaign manager Vince Galko said linking Barletta to Bush is “laughable.”
“If anything, it appears that Paul Kanjorski and George Bush couldn’t be more alike when it comes to bailing out Wall Street,” Galko said.
English campaign manager Adam Beebe said English is “on record saying that he will not support any legislation that will cut seniors’ benefits — current retirees or those nearing retirement.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) has cited a FactCheck.org article that debunked a similar claim made by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), noting that changes to the Social Security system wouldn’t have affected current retirees.
Other Social Security ads are running against Shays and Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.), along with GOP candidates Bill Cassidy in Louisiana, Blaine Luetkemeyer in Missouri and David Schweikert in Arizona.
Barletta, Luetkemeyer and Cassidy have all sought to get those ads pulled from the air, with little success.
Two stations in Luetkemeyer’s district, KRCG-TV and KMIZ-TV, cited an inaccurate report in a college newspaper and asked the DCCC to resubmit its ad to reflect the correction.
Luetkemeyer’s campaign said the ads had been pulled, but both stations said Tuesday that the DCCC was simply asked to resubmit the ad to change the citation, which the DCCC has done.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is also running a pair of ads against Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), and Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D-La.) campaign is running one against her GOP opponent, state Treasurer John Kennedy.
Sen. Norm Coleman’s (R-Minn.) challenger, comedian Al Franken (D), has also mentioned the issue in his ads.
“The differences between the parties could not be clearer — Democrats will fight for Social Security; Republicans will play a game of Russian roulette with it,” said DCCC spokesman Doug Thornell. |
