DNC thanks Travis Childers for stimulus vote

DNC campaign commercial thanking Travis Childers for voting for the stimulus.



(Hat Tip Y'all Politics)

The Hill - DNC to run spots on stimulus

As the Obama administration trumpets success from February's economic stimulus plan, its political arm is helping potentially vulnerable members of Congress who backed the bill.

Organizing for America, the offshoot of President Barack Obama's campaign that now resides within the Democratic National Committee, will run advertisements in four districts thanking Democrats for backing the stimulus package.

The ads will run beginning Friday on local cable channels aimed at constituents of Reps. Ben Chandler (D-Ky.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Travis Childers (D-Miss.) and Zack Space (D-Ohio). Heinrich, Childers and Space all have prominent Republican candidates running against them. The ads aimed at Heinrich and Space focus on healthcare reform.

Though the advertisements will be small — a Democratic National Committee spokesman called the ad buys "significant for the markets," but local cable advertising, especially in Mississippi, Kentucky and rural Ohio, is very cheap — the new advertisements mark the next step in both parties' efforts to brand the stimulus package as a winning issue for their side.

"Times are tough, but Congressman Ben Chandler is fighting for us. He supported the jobs and Economic Recovery Act which rescued our economy from the brink of disaster and provided the largest middle-class tax cut in American history," says the advertisement running in Kentucky. "The Recovery Act is providing millions in funding for projects right here in Kentucky, creating and preserving jobs here instead of shipping more American jobs overseas."

The government said 570,000 Americans filed for jobless benefits in the week ending Aug. 29, higher than the 564,000 economists forecasted. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate remains at 9.4 percent.