New John McCain Ad Features Democratic Wisconsin Delegate Stripped Of Status

Video below can be found at YouTube here.

Debra Bartoshevich was a Wisconsin national delegate who was stripped of her delegate status by the Wisconsin Democratic Party after publicly declaring she might vote for John McCain. Bartoshevich is now featured in the latest John McCain ad.

The Capital Times reports on the new John McCain ad, which is geared toward Hillary Clinton supporters who are not supporting Barack Obama as of yet and the ad features former Democratic Wisconsin delegate, Debra Bartoshevich, who was stripped of her status after she publicly declared that she would support John McCain if Barack Obama became the Democratic nominee.

Democratic officials were stunned, as shown at Wake up America, when news filtered down to them showing Debra Bartoshevich, a Hillary Clinton delegate, told reporters, "I will not be voting for Obama. I will cast my vote for John McCain. I just feel you need to have somebody who has experience with foreign matters.”

Initially they were not going to strip Bartoshevich of her delegate status, but later voted to do so and to ban her from the Democratic convention.

Bartoshevich is now a Democrat for John McCain and she is featured in the recent ad released by the McCain campaign, clearly geared toward other Democrats that are unhappy with their party choosing Barack Obama for their presidential candidate.

The text of the ad, entitled, "Debra":

I’m a proud Hillary Clinton Democrat. She had the experience and judgment to be President.

Now, in a first for me, I’m supporting a Republican, John McCain. I respect his maverick and independent streak, and now he’s the one with the experience and judgment.

A lot of Democrats will vote McCain. It’s okay, really!

With recent news reports showing that the number of Democratic supporters gravitating to John McCain has risen, according to CNN, by 11 percentage points since June, yesterdays ad titled "Passed Over", highlighting how Clinton was passed over by Barack Obama in favor of Joe Biden, and now this one showing a former Clinton national delegate stating that she is voting for John McCain, is meant to play up the tensions between Clinton supporters and Obama and his supporters to garner more of them to vote for John McCain.

Those numbers are higher in the latest USA Today report which says that 30 percent of Hillary Clinton voters will either vote for John McCain, not vote at all or vote for somebody else.

Of of the remaining 70 percent, only 47 percent say they are solidly behind Barack Obama with 23 percent saying they are backing Obama but may change their minds before the election.

Those remaining 23 percent, are the Democratic supporters the McCain campaign is actively going after with ads like those released over the last two days.

It is also being reported on television, that Debra Bartoshevich is in Denver with the GOP officials.

Ed Morrisey points out:

I’d expect this to get some play during the Democratic convention itself. Team McCain says it will air in “key states”, but the timing of the ad’s release hints at heavy play this week. Having Bartoshevich make this pitch now underscores McCain’s willingness to fight for this election and getting creative and flexible in doing so.

Will this convince others to follow Debra’s lead? Eighteen million people voted for Hillary in the Democratic primaries. If McCain can capture 10-20% of those, this ad will be well worth it.

Indeed it will be.

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