SALON

Monday, Aug 31, 2009 9:45 PM UTC

Liberal groups unveil anti-Grassley ad

A new spot targets the Iowa Republican, who's been a pivotal force on healthcare in the Senate

By

Topics: Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Healthcare Reform, War Room,

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has become a pretty prominent part of the debate over healthcare reform as the chief Republican negotiator in the Senate Finance Committee. And with his stance against the public option — indeed, against any bill right now — he’s become a target for liberal groups. Now, two of them are joining to air an ad against him in his home state and in Washington D.C.

The two groups behind the spot are Democracy for America, which was founded by Howard Dean and is now run by his brother Jim, and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. For now, it’s slated to run 200 times in Iowa and another 100 in D.C. The groups had previously implemented a similar strategy against senators like Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson.

The ad features an Iowa farmer named Kevin Shilling who says he’s voted for Republicans including Presidents Reagan, Nixon and George W. Bush and for Grassley himself.

“I voted for Sen. Grassley in the past,” Shilling says in the ad. “But when Grassley takes over $2 million from the big health and insurance industries that oppose reform and then says he won’t give Iowans the choice of a public option, I have to ask: Senator, whose side are you on?”

Using one Republican to go after another in an ad is always a good strategy, but it may not get this particular ad all that far. Shilling may have voted Republican in the past, he may even still do so, but he’s also a county chair of the Iowa Democratic Party.

More Tim Bella.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 15 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations