TITLE: "Candor."
LENGTH: 30 seconds.
AIRING: Iowa.
SCRIPT: Obama: "I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message." Announcer: "His candor is refreshing, his scrupulous honesty is far more presidential than the dodging of other candidates. Barack Obama. His health-care plan takes on powerful interests, and that tells voters something important about him. On Wall Street, he got tough on CEOs, telling them to protect the middle class. Because for Barack Obama, it's not politics as usual, it's change we can believe in."
KEY IMAGES: Quick cuts of Obama, set to soaring music. He is shown in his shirtsleeves, seated at a table talking with voters; striding across a stage with his sleeves rolled up, a giant American flag as a backdrop; addressing cheering crowds at a campaign rally; speaking at a lectern while shaking his fist. Superimposed are quotations from national and Iowa newspapers and magazines. For example: "For Obama, it's not politics as usual," from the Gazette in Cedar Rapids. "Far more presidential," from Time magazine's Joe Klein. "Takes on powerful interests," from The Des Moines Register.
ANALYSIS: Obama uses the words of political columnists and journalists to add more heft to his pitch that he's not just another politician saying the right things. Without mentioning his opponents by name, the ad tries to block his main rivals, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards, on two key lines of attack — the limits of his health-care plan and his willingness to stand up to special interests. Clinton has questioned his commitment to extending health care to all Americans. Obama's plan retains the employer-based insurance system and creates a public plan to expand coverage. But his plan does not include an individual mandate, leading critics to say it falls short of offering truly universal coverage. Edwards, meanwhile, has tried to cast Obama as a compromiser who would negotiate with special interests; Obama tries to steal some of Edwards' populist thunder with his promise to stand up to Wall Street.
The ad emphasizes snippets of praise from newspapers and magazines. And in the leadup to the Iowa caucuses, three bits notably come from The Des Moines Register. Obama doesn't mention that the Register has endorsed Clinton.
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Analysis by Associated Press Writer Nancy Benac