New Obama ad

By The Associated Press
January 21, 2008
 

TITLE: "Inspiring."

LENGTH: 60 seconds.

AIRING: Nationally on CNN and MSNBC.

SCRIPT: Obama: "I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message."

Obama at the 2004 Democratic National Convention: "We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes."

Announcer: "After college and law school, Barack Obama could have cashed in. Instead he fought for change. Working to rebuild an area torn apart by plant closings."

Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe: "It was inspiring, absolutely inspiring to see someone as brilliant as Barack Obama take all of the talent and devote it to making people's lives better."

Announcer: "In Illinois he brought Republicans and Democrats together. Cutting taxes for workers and winning health care for children."

Republican Illinois state Sen. Kirk Dillard: "Senator Obama worked on some of the deepest issues we had, and he was successful in a bipartisan way."

Announcer: "And in the U.S. Senate, he's led on issues from arms control to landmark ethics reform."

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.: "It was hard to get that ethics bill passed. This is a man who knows how to get things done. He understands that we've got to move forward with a different kind of politics."

Obama in convention speech: "There is not a liberal America and a conservative America; there is the United States of America."

KEY IMAGES: A black and white still photo of Obama is followed by a clip of the 2004 Democratic National Convention when Obama was the keynote speaker. A photo of Obama during law school with a New York Times headline stating: "First black elected to head Harvard's law Review." Scenes of a vacant Chicago lot, followed by Tribe's testimonial. Dillard praises Obama on camera followed by pictures of Obama at work and Obama with Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind. McCaskill speaks on camera before the scene shifts back to Obama's convention speech.

ANALYSIS: The ad is a remix of a commercial Obama first aired last summer in Iowa. It is biographical and meant to introduce him to the vast electorate that will vote in the Feb. 5 primaries when more than 20 states hold presidential nominating contests.

Though Obama's name may now be well-known in many U.S. households, voters outside the early states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina may know little of his background.

The ad features three Obama admirers who fit into his story line. Tribe, who Obama aides have said was a mentor to Obama in law school, attests to his academic credentials as well as to his work as a Chicago community organizer. Dillard, a Republican who is supporting John McCain for the GOP nomination, presents Obama as a bipartisan lawmaker, an image reinforced by the photograph of Obama with Lugar. Obama and Lugar worked together in the Senate on issues of nuclear proliferation.

McCaskill, a moderate Missouri Democrat, is the new addition to the ad. She endorsed Obama recently and her praise highlights Obama's work on ethics legislation, an issue Obama often mentions to illustrate his legislative leadership. With Clinton winning the majority of the women's vote in early contests, McCaskill also helps Obama appeal to female voters.

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Analysis by Associated Press Writer Jim Kuhnhenn