The Central Tabulator

Huffington Post

William Bradley

Posted July 29, 2008 | 08:50 PM (EST)

Okay, another day, another John McCain attack ad on Barack Obama. This one came in over the weekend. It’s the third straight, as the McCain campaign is increasingly abandoning positive advertising in favor of negative ads on the frontrunner. Though the positive ad I wrote about on July 10th is still in rotation, at least for now.

The latest Mac attack ad plays above. And here is the text:

Announcer: Barack Obama never held a single Senate hearing on Afghanistan.
He hadn’t been to Iraq in years.
He voted against funding our troops.
And now, he made time to go to the gym, but cancelled a visit with wounded troops.
Seems the Pentagon wouldn’t allow him to bring cameras.
John McCain is always there for our troops.
McCain. Country first.
John McCain: I’m John McCain and I approve this message.

Here are 13 things to know about this ad.

1. Campaigns go very negative like this when they are very worried. John McCain’s campaign has now put out out three straight negative TV ads in a row, attacking Barack Obama. And the McCain message in the free media is virtually all negative.

2. The reason the McCain campaign is so worried is that the Olympics start in less than two weeks. At the height of summer, most experts think that whomever has a steady lead going in will have a steady lead coming out. The next big event after the Olympics? The Democratic National Convention. At which Obama will accept the presidential nomination in a speech at Denver’s football stadium before 80,000 screaming supporters. Source Article