Obama Warns Republicans About Critical Ads

Associated Press ^ | 5-16-08

[kingattax]

CHICAGO -- Perhaps no one took greater comfort in the Republican Party's third straight loss of a long-held House seat this week than Barack Obama, who says the results point to clear limits in the effectiveness of attack ads he expects this fall.

The Democratic presidential candidate played a prominent role in all three special elections to fill vacant GOP seats, and he landed on the winning side each time.

In recent contests in Louisiana and Mississippi, Republicans or their allies ran TV ads linking the Democratic House nominees to Obama, warning that a vote for them was a tacit endorsement of Obama's agenda, which the ads described as very liberal. In Mississippi, ads against Democrat Travis Childers also tied him to Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

The efforts failed, putting Democrats in House seats the GOP had considered safe, and sending waves of panic through Republican circles nationwide.

In the third race, in Obama's home state of Illinois, Democrat Bill Foster ran ads showing the senator endorsing him, and he claimed the seat long held by former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, a Republican.

Obama said the outcomes bode well for his expected race against Republican John McCain this fall, although he acknowledged the power of rumors that are spread mainly through the Internet about his faith and patriotism. He told reporters this week that he can overcome the falsehoods if he has enough time to campaign in battleground states and let voters get to know him better.

[tessalu]

I think that Saudi Arabia may be buying the votes for Obama, for around where I live, no one wants Obama. He is not representive of America.