Obama releases Nevada TV ad; watchdog group calls McCain ads 'more deceptions'
Democrat Barack Obama's campaign has released a sharp new ad that could signal how it intends to take on Republican John McCain: state by state, with ads tailored to local issues.
The campaign last week went after McCain in Ohio with an ad that tries to tie him to potential job losses there. The new one highlights McCain's support for the controversial Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, to air only in Nevada.
Called Backyard, the spot shows McCain telling an interviewer he would not be comfortable with nuclear waste being shipped to Yucca through his home state of Arizona. "John McCain. For nuclear waste in Nevada, just not in his backyard," the ad says.
(Update at 10:10 a.m. ET: McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds says Obama is "taking a vacation from the facts, ignoring his own votes in support of the Yucca Mountain project." It's a reference to a 2005 energy and water bill that Obama voted for. The Obama campaign counters that "92 senators voted for this bill -- including staunch Yucca opponents and Nevada Senators Harry Reid and John Ensign." Reid is a Democrat, Ensign a Republican.)
Meanwhile, FactCheck.org has issued a new analysis of three TV and radio ads McCain released late last week that said Obama would raise taxes on lower-income people. Under the headline "More Tax Deceptions," the nonpartisan group says the ads make "multiple false and misleading claims about Obama's tax proposals." Details here.
The Obama campaign also has released its own fact-check, a home-movie type video of a young economic adviser rebutting point-by-point one of McCain's ads attacking Obama on taxes:
Script of Nevada TV ad below.
Backyard
Narrator: Imagine trucks hauling the nation’s nuclear waste on our highways to Yucca Mountain? John McCain supports opening Yucca. He’s not worried about nuclear waste in our state -- only in Arizona.
Interviewer: Would you be comfortable with nuclear waste coming through Arizona on its way, you know going through Phoenix, on its way to Yucca Mountain?
McCain: “No, I would not. No, I would not."
Narrator: John McCain. For nuclear waste in Nevada, just not in his backyard. Barack Obama. Opposes Opening Yucca. He’ll protect our families.
Obama: I’m Barack Obama and I approve this message.