Ad Watch: A Miami Herald look at campaign ads
Campaign: Congressional Race District 18
Candidate: Annette Taddeo
Opponent: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Available on the web:www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfsY1swN1T0
TV market: Miami
Nickname: ``Pea Pod''
Opens with the caricature of a sprouting vine and a pea pod, with President Bush's and Ros-Lehtinen's heads popping out and bobbing from side to side.
``George Bush and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: Two peas in a pod. To support Bush, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen voted against healthcare for children -- five times. Ros-Lehtinen voted for Bush's tax breaks for big oil and big business -- then took almost a million dollars for her campaign from Wall Street and special interests. Bush and Ileana -- hurting working families, damaging our economy. Ileana has let us down. Bush is leaving. Ileana needs to go too.''
Taddeo is trying to tie Ros-Lehtinen to an increasingly unpopular president and to the Wall Street meltdown.
Ros-Lehtinen voted against expanding a children's health insurance program, including two votes against overriding Bush's veto of the program's expansion bid.
''Tax breaks for big oil and big business'' refers to Ros-Lehtinen's votes against two Democrat-sponsored energy-related bills in 2007. The campaign is trying to imply that by not supporting the bills, Ros-Lehtinen, in effect, favored tax breaks, which is a stretch. One bill, requiring automakers to increase fuel-efficiency standards, became law. The other, making price-gouging a federal crime, passed the House, but Bush has threatened a veto.
The dollar figure refers to Ros-Lehtinen's contributions during her 19-year congressional career, not just this campaign.
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