Tooting Democrats' Horn: Rally, cable ad buy will tout accomplishments of Democratic Congress

[DeepModem Mom]

WP political blog, "The Fix," by Chris Cillizza
Tooting Democrats' Horn

For the last few months Democratic strategists have been privately fretting that a relative dearth of legislative accomplishments over the first six months of the 110th Congress could damage their electoral prospects next November.

Enter Americans United for Change, an independent progressive organization formed in the run-up to the battle over President Bush's Social Security reform proposal. The group, which is led by former Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee communications director Brad Woodhouse, is organizing a large rally on Capitol Hill as well as launching a national cable ad buy next week to correct the record.

The ad, which you can see below, touts the accomplishments of the Democratic-controlled Congress. It begins by noting that next week the first minimum wage increase in a decade will kick in; "raising the minimum wage took an act of Congress but more importantly it took a Congress willing to act," says the spot's narrator as images of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) flash across the screen.

The commercial goes on to note Democrats' accomplishments in protecting health care for children and increasing military veterans' health care benefits. "Tell the new Congress....Keep moving America in a new direction," says the narrator at the close of the commercial....

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A national cable ad buy and a large rally -- even in Washington -- won't move the needle more than marginally. But, that's not the goal. The aim of an ad buy like this is to influence opinion leaders -- those folks who write the stories and appear on television and radio to talk about the state of play in Washington. Like it or not, the opinions expressed by these people tend to set the parameters of the debate when an election year rolls around....

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/?hpid=news-col-blogs

LINK TO VIEW AD, "ACT": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE0S3Njqjpo