Adwatch: McCain talks about helping with taxes, energy
TITLE: "Accountable"
LENGTH: 30 seconds
AIRING: Michigan, Pennsylvania
SCRIPT: John McCain: "The great goal is to get the American economy running at full strength again — creating the opportunities Americans expect and the jobs Americans need."
Announcer: "As president, John McCain will make taxes simpler, fairer; energy cleaner, cheaper; health care portable and affordable; corporate CEOs accountable; mortgage debt restructured. Big ideas for serious problems. John McCain."
John McCain: "I'm John McCain and I approve this message."
KEY IMAGES: Video of McCain delivering the first sentence, then quick images of McCain shaking hands in a factory, tax forms, wind turbines, health care workers, what appears to be a CEO, and a house. It ends with a clip of McCain shaking hands with a voter.
THE SPIN: McCain is portraying himself as someone who has answers for the economic worries voters face on energy, health care and foreclosures. He also touches on issues he has promoted throughout his campaign, such as tax reform and business accountability.
ANALYSIS: The Arizona senator is hoping to persuade voters in the critical swing states of Michigan and Pennsylvania that he understands their concerns about the sluggish economy and rising health care and energy costs and has a plan to do something about them.
In January, Republican candidate Mitt Romney portrayed McCain as a pessimist on the economy and the former Massachusetts governor promised that he would return lost auto jobs to Michigan. McCain tried to cast his rival as unrealistic, and said jobs "have left and will not come back, but we're going to create jobs."
McCain lost the primary to Romney — and lost among voters who ranked the economy as their most important issue, 42 percent to 29 percent, according to exit polls.
Now, McCain's task is to win over those voters in Michigan and Pennsylvania in a likely race against Democrat Barack Obama. Obama lost Pennsylvania to rival Hillary Rodham Clinton. He wasn't on the ballot in Michigan after the national party penalized the state for its early primary.
The ad begins Wednesday.
Analysis by Kathy Barks Hoffman