Obama Ad Focuses on Special Interests

[Omaha Steve]

By NEDRA PICKLER

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic Sen. Barack Obama tried to distance himself from the city where he works Tuesday with a new television ad running in the leadoff presidential nominating state of Iowa.


Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks during a town hall meeting, Monday, July 30, 2007, at Roosevelt Middle School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

The ad, "Take it Back," features the Illinois senator speaking in Springfield, Ill., when he formally announced his candidacy and vowing to take back power from special interest groups in Washington if he's elected president.

"They think they own this government," Obama says in the ad. "But we're here today to take it back."

The ad also includes Obama delivering one of his biggest applause lines, one that confronts his biggest weakness - that's he too inexperienced to be president after just 2 1/2 years in the Senate.
"I know that I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington," Obama says. "But, I've been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change."

The ad is meant to draw a distinction with Obama's chief rival for the nomination - New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. She argues her time in Washington has prepared her to lead from her first day in office, but Obama is trying to turn her experience into a negative at a time when voters are dissatisfied with government.

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