Obama Ad Avoids Criticizing Palin

WASHINGTON (Aug. 30) -- Since Sen. Barack Obama distanced himself from his campaign's first tough reaction to presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, his team seems to be figuring out the best way to direct its fire.

In the meantime, its ad approach is simple when it comes to the Alaska governor: keep aiming at Sen. John McCain.

Obama's campaign has begun airing its first ad that includes Palin, but it never criticizes her or even mentions her name.

The 30-second spot, which started airing Saturday on national cable in advance of next week's GOP convention, keeps up the line of attack ran through the Democratic convention: that a McCain presidency would mean the continuation of the Bush policy approach.

The Obama campaign would not say how extensive the ad buy was.


"Well, he's made his choice," the announcer says in "No Change." "But, for the rest of us, there's still no change. McCain doesn't get it, calling this broken economy 'strong.' Wants to keep spending $10 billion a month in Iraq. And votes with George Bush 90 percent of the time.

"So, while this may be his running mate ..." he continues over footage of McCain and a smiling Sarah Palin, which shifts to footage of McCain and Bush. "America knows this is John McCain's agenda. And we can't afford four more years of the same."

An Obama spokesman had reacted to the announcement that McCain had picked Palin as his running mate Friday with a statement that called her "the former mayor of a town of 9,000, with zero foreign policy experience."
Obama, who later complimented Palin in a statement, backed away from the criticism. "I think, you know, campaigns start getting these hair triggers," he said. "And the statement that Joe [Biden] and I put out reflects our sentiments."

But her experience and connection to McCain is under scrutiny.

McCain first met Palin only six months ago and had just one conversation with the Alaska governor before offering her the vice presidential slot on the Republican ticket, the Arizona senator's campaign said Friday.