PAC group's ads promote Kerry

Ads portray the president as a friend of big business and Kerry as a supporter of the working class.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- A group sympathetic to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry is running TV ads this week in Ohio and other key areas that portray the Massachusetts senator as the friend of the working class.
The 30-second spots, which were paid for by MoveOn Political Action Committee, portray President Bush, a Republican, as beholden to big business.
"We want Ohioans to know that John Kerry is the candidate who will fight for working families," said Katherine Smith, central and southern Ohio coordinator for MoveOn PAC.
Jon Benedict, a consultant working with MoveOn PAC, said the ads cost more than $766,000 to run on network and cable television stations in all media markets in Ohio and Nevada and on cable stations in Washington, D.C., and Manhattan in New York City.
Battleground state
Ohio is widely considered by political analysts to be among a handful of so-called battleground states that could be close in this November's presidential contest.
Benedict said the group chose Nevada to air the ads for similar reasons.
"It's a state that's in play," Benedict said.
The spot opens on still images of Bush and Kerry, a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, standing behind lecterns in a debate.
The candidates then change into other people who begin to debate: Bush morphs into what appears to be business executives while Kerry transforms into what appear to be a factory worker, a mom and a finally, a child.
A voice can be heard saying, "When the candidates debate, remember who they're speaking for."
The morphed businessman says in the ad: "Under George Bush, we get tax breaks for sending jobs overseas."
The morphed factory worker says: "John Kerry will end those tax breaks and create jobs in America."
An apparent pharmaceutical executive says in the ad: "Bush's Medicare bill gave us billions."
What appears to be a mom says: "John Kerry will give everyone access to the same health plan Congress gets."
In the ad, a man MoveOn PAC says is supposed to be a power company executive says: "Bush is allowing us to keep on polluting."
A child responds by wheezing and using an inhaler.
GOP response
The Republican National Committee put out a response to the ads that Kerry's plans would hurt job creation in this country and that his plans wouldn't stem the flow of jobs overseas.
The RNC piece used anecdotes and information from news reports that they said back their claims.
According to Benedict, this is MoveOn PAC's fifth ad; the first one aired March 30. MoveOn PAC has spent more than $2.4 million on political advertising to date, Benedict said.