Let Freedom Ring is a conservative non-profit advocacy group that announced last week that they would be spending several hundred thousands dollars on their own advertising campaign which attacks Barack Obama for taking what it calls, opposing positions on the same issue, which they show via video.
The text of the ad states:
“People are saying that Senator Obama’s recent changes of position have made him a flip-flopper. He’s not! Flip-floppers only hold one position at a time. Senator Obama is different: he holds two positions at the same time. Both ways on banning handguns. Both ways on public campaign financing. And now, both ways on withdrawing from Iraq. He’s ‘Both Ways Barack.’ Worse than a flip-flopper!”
Let Freedom Ring bought advertising for their "Both Ways Barack" on MTV and those ads started airing on Wednesday night, July 23, 2008.
According to the article from MTV the ad will run approximately 100 times between Tuesday and Friday on MTV, VH1, MSNBC, CNN and Fox News, with MTV the one place it started on Wednesday and the others started on Tuesday.
Let Freedom Ring's founder and president, Colin Hanna, these ads are geared to reach a different audience, a younger audience and he states, "If I were to criticize my own buy, I'd say I would like to see more MTV and less Fox News than we wound up buying. We want to go after people who are in the political middle and are not fully committed on this race."
Outside groups, those not directly related to either campaign, have no limit on what they can spend advertising for the candidate of their choice as long as they do not coordinate their ads and efforts with the candidate they are trying to help.
MTV had decided this season to accept political ads for both candidates but ads from independent outside groups would be decided on a case-by-case basis.
The McCain campaign spokesperson said they had no response to the Let Freedom Ring ad and the Obama campaign could not be reached for comment.
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