Comparing his Democratic rival to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, Sen. McCain is up with a punchy new ad in that questions Sen. Obama’s readiness for the Oval Office.

“He’s the biggest celebrity in the world. But is he ready to lead?” the announcer asks, as images of Spears, Hilton and Obama appear on the screen and the “Obama, Obama” chant from his Berlin speech plays in the background.

The spot, “Celeb,” which makes heavy use of the wide shots of the 200,000+ crowd from the Democrat’s speech in Germany last week, then goes on to rebuke Obama for his opposition to offshore drilling and willingness to raise taxes on a handful of energy sources.

“With gas prices soaring, Barack Obama says no to offshore drilling. And, says he’ll raise taxes on electricity. Higher taxes, more foreign oil, that’s the real Obama,” the announcer adds

The ad is going into the campaign’s regular rotation on national and will play in heavy rotation in 11 states in the Mountain West and Midwest.

UPDATE–Asked to respond to the ad today in Missouri, Obama’s campaign says they believe their Republican opponent is getting increasingly negative.

“You know, I don’t pay attention to John McCain’s ads, although I do notice he doesn’t seem to have anything to say very positive about himself. He seems to only be talking about me. You need to ask John McCain what he’s for and not just what he’s against,” Obama told reporters Wednesday afternoon.

Team Clinton releases a tough last-minute ad accusing Barack Obama of being out of touch with working class Americans for opposing a federal gas tax holiday. The :30 spot starts running in North Carolina today.

“He is attacking Hillary’s plan to give you a break on gas prices because he doesn’t have one,” says the narrator in betwen interviews with people who say they’re affected by the high cost at the pump.

Releasing attack ads on the day before a primary has been the pattern for the Clinton campaign since March 4th; the strategy has worked pretty well for them since then, with wins in OH, TX, and PA.

McCain launched a new TV ad Friday focusing on his health care plan that is set to air in the key swing state of Ohio.

The ad lauds his health care plan but is notable for one graphic at the top of the ad. While you watch video of McCain walking at the beginning, notice that the words “President McCain,” are displayed on the left side of the screen, as opposed to say, “McCain for President.” About 200 more days and a general election to go there team McCain…

Republican National Committee Spokesman Danny Diaz releases the following statement regarding the latest state GOP ad to invoke Jeremiah Wright.

“Voters in the 1st District of Mississippi will make a determination on the ad,” Diaz said, referring to the latest attack ad by Republican Greg Davis against Democratic opponent Travis Childers in a Mississippi Congressional runoff.

Sen. McCain said earlier today that he is tired of playing “referee” in all of these state GOP ad disputes. Last week, the RNC and McCain were very aggressive in condemning a North Carolina GOP ad using Wright, but this week they are leaving it to the voters. This should appease some voices on the right…

Philadelphia, PA — The Clinton campaign is up with its first ad in Pennsylvania highlighting Barack Obama’s “bitter” comments as they seek to maximize the impact of his gaffe.

The 30 second spot, titled “Pennsylvania,” features five residents from the Keystone State criticizing Obama’s remarks, including one woman who said she was “insulted” by his comments, and a man who says the “good people of Pennsylvania deserve a lot better than what Barack Obama said.” (full script after jump)

While the campaign will not specify details about the size of the ad purchase, one Clinton adviser called it “substantial.”

(more…)

Camp McCain  releases a powerful Internet ad, “Man in the Arena,” interspersing speeches by McCain, Teddy Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. Expect to see more web ads over the course of the general election—something the campaign made use of during the primary on their tight budget.

Script after jump… (more…)

Just after 8:30pm on a balmy Friday night outside of San Antonio, Texas, Obama looked out at a see of some 8,000 spectators. He was midway through his stump speech and then decided to sock it to Hillary Clinton for running a new campaign ad entitled “Children” - or as it’s being referred to in media and political circles, the “Red Phone” ad because of its similarity to a 1984 ad with the same name run by Walter Mondale in 1984.

“I want to take a moment to respond to an ad that Senator Clinton put up today,” Obama stated as the crowd began to jeer.  “We’ve seen these ads before. They’re usually the kind that play on people’s fears and try to scare up votes. But it won’t work. Because the question is not about who’s picking up the phone – the question is what kind of judgment will the person who answers the phone have?”

Senator Obama has made his consistent anti-war voice an example of his judgment in the realm of all things foreign policy - and once again, his weapon of choice to attack Senator Clinton’s foreign policy experience is her vote for the Iraq War Resolution in 2002.

“Senator Clinton may not be aware, but we already had a red phone moment. It was the decision to invade Iraq. And Senator Clinton picked up the phone and gave the wrong answer. And John McCain picked up the phone and gave the wrong answer. And George Bush picked up the
phone and gave the wrong answer,” he said, not so subtly linking her decisions with those made by Republicans McCain and Bush.

“I stood up and I said this war in Iraq would cost us billions of dollars and thousands of lives. I said it would distract us from the real threat we faced. That’s the judgment I made on the most important foreign policy decision of a generation and that’s the kind of judgment I’ll show when I pick up the phone at 3am in the morning!” he exclaimed to rousing applause.

He then wacked President Bush for good measure - always a crowd favorite at Democratic rallies. He promised he would use his judgment to provide, equip, and train troops and to “use them wisely and not deploy them because of some ideological bent that you were on, but because it is absolutely necessary to protect the United States of America – that’s the answer that I’ll give when somebody calls me on the phone at 3am in the morning!”

Obama ended his rant by saying he won’t scare up votes using the threat of terrorism. “I intend to make sure that we rally the country together, against our common enemies – that we’re distracted by politics when it comes to our national security. That’s the judgment that I intend provide when I’m president of the United States of America.”

Hillary Clinton’s new ad entitled, “Children” poses the question, “It’s 3am and your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want answering the phone?” The ad is referring to the “red phone” in the White House - their point: Hillary Clinton has the experience to handle crises while Obama is still untested.

The Obama campaign responded to questions about the ad in a conference call this morning - Campaign Manager David Plouffe called the ad ineffective and said Hillary Clinton has already had her “red phone moment” when she supported the war in Iraq. “She, John McCain, and George Bush all gave the wrong answer,” Plouffe told reporters.

Obama himself weighed in at the top of his veterans town hall at a Houston American Legion Post this morning. “Since I am in the midst of an election, before we open this up for conversation, I do want to take a moment to respond to - the press is, I’m sure, curious - to an ad that Senator Clinon is apparently running today,” he began.

Watch his response here:

done

Later in the day, the campaign released it’s counter ad - using much of the same effects as Clinton’s ad, including similar sound effects and video clips. Watch it here:

Barack Obama released a new ad called “Desperate” today to dispel Hillary Clinton’s latest effort to show Wisconsin voters that Barack Obama has something to hide by refusing to debate her before Tuesday’s primary.

Something Wisconsin Governor (and Obama backer) Jim Doyle described as dirty politics. “For her to do this - claiming that Senator Obama somehow isn’t making himself available when he has been all over the state, and as we speak today, she has yet to even be in the state during the week leading up to this primary,” he said on a conference call yesterday**. “Fact is, he’s out here in the state having a one-sided debate right now and the only campaign she has going on in Wisconsin is negative TV ads,” he added later.

“Desperate” is Obama’s second ad set to air in the Badger State to respond to Clinton’s own second ad questioning Obama’s reasons for refusing a debate. The announcer starts by saying there have already been 18 debates with two more scheduled next week.

“Here’s the truth. Obama has a plan to protect Social Security benefits and the current retirement age. Hillary doesn’t. On health care, even Bill Clinton’s Labor Secretary says Obama covers more people than Hillary. And Obama sponsored a bill to end tax breaks for oil companies,” the announcer reads, responding to claims from the previous Clinton ad. “Tired of the same old politics? Vote for change we can believe in,” the ad ends.

In a media availability yesterday, Obama called debates an “exercise” that has become “predicatable.” He explained, “I could make the arguments on behalf of senator Clinton that she would make against me in a debate. We all know them. You guys could too. And I’m sure the same applies to the other side, on the other hand, when we have a chance to talk to voters directly, when we have a chance to give them a sense of where we want to take the country and that’s my priority in these closing weeks.”

**Senator Clinton will make her first trip to Wisconsin this week when she arrives later today to speak at the state Democratic Party’s Founders Day Dinner in Milwaukee, where Senator Obama will also be speaking.

The Obama campaign released a new ad today, airing nationally on CNN and MSNBC - pretty innocuous except that it will hit airwaves in Florida (as well as 49 other states). Because Democrats signed a pledge sponsored by the DNC promising they would not campaign in the Sunshine State after Florida pushed its primary up against the DNC’s wishes. The state was stripped of delegates and Democrats vowed not to campaign there.The Clinton campaign picked up on the Obama ad and pounced, saying on a conference call this was a violation of the pledge and that Clinton would now consider campaigning in Florida in retaliation.

“Both national cable networks told us it would be impossible for us to run advertising nationally that excluded only Florida.  For that reason we consulted with the South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Carol Fowler who told us unequivocally she did not consider this to be in violation of pledge made to the early states,” Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in response.

The Obama campaign then arranged its own conference call with campaign manager, David Plouffe, who said he believes the Clinton campaign has been looking for a way to break their own pledge not to compete in Florida. This seemingly small window was their opportunity and is part of a pattern of “playing outside the lines” on the part of the Clinton campaign. As evidence, Plouffe cited previous incidents in Nevada, when Clinton precinct captains allegedly tried to shut caucus sites early, and Iowa, where the Clinton campaign didn’t approve of Obama encouraging out of state students to caucus. This type of behavior, Plouffe said, shows that Clinton is willing to “win at all costs.”

The Obama campaign will not campaign in Florida - even if Clinton does. This campaign is about delegates, and Florida has none.