The following television ad is currently running on cable and broadcast television. It is part of a three-part series produced by A.D. French & Associates and paid for by the 21st Ward Regular Democratic Organization, which I am treasurer of and who has endorsed Lewis Reed for President of the Board of Aldermen.

Comment away.

UPDATE 3/3/07: A commenter has asked about the context in which Shrewsbury’s comment was made. It was made at a recent candidate forum in north St. Louis in response to a direct question from the audience about why he does not have his business located in the city. Here is the complete unedited video of both candidates’ responses:

And here’s a little additional context for the use of negative (or contrast) advertising in local citywide campaigns. The following is a negative ad Comptroller Darlene Green ran against Shrewsbury when he unsuccessfully challenged her for that office in 1996.

And again, despite appearances on his website, Comptroller Green has maintained that she is not supporting Shrewsbury for re-election.

PUB DEF EXCLUSIVE

Here are Aldermanic President candidate Lewis Reed’s latest campaign commercials which started airing this week.

Reed is in the last 6 days of a close campaign with incumbent Jim Shrewsbury to be decided by Tuesday’s primary election.

* These spots were written and co-produced by A.D. French & Associates

Here is Aldermanic President Jim Shrewsbury’s campaign commercial currently running on TV. It features cameos by State Sen. Pat Dougherty, Ald. Phyllis Young, former Ald. Irv Clay, Chief of Staff Pam Ross, and campaign staffers Harold Brown and April Harris.

Shrewsbury is in the last 11 days of a close campaign with 6th Ward Alderman Lewis Reed to be decided in the March 6 primary election.

*Reed is a client of A.D. French & Associates

6th Ward Alderman candidate Kacie Starr Triplett has posted a new web commercial on her campaign website. The spot, produced by A.D. French & Associates, highlights Triplett’s campaign pledge to be the most accessible and responsive alderman at city hall.

Triplett’s opponents in the March 6th primary are Christian Saller and Committeeman Patrick Cacchione.

All three candidates have been invited to a debate tonight at 7:00 at the Central Library, 1301 Olive St., hosted by the League of Women Voters and the Downtown Residents Association.

Touting his endorsement by the city’s Firefighters’ Union, Local 73, Alderman Lewis Reed has come out early with the first television commercial in the campaign for President of the Board of Aldermen.

Reed is running against incumbent Pres. Jim Shrewsbury. The election is March 6th.

Editor’s Note: Reed is a client of A D French & Associates.

Because of Iraq we are less secure, says General and former Presidential candidate Wesley Clark in a new commercial by VoteVets.org, the same group behind earlier ads attacking Republican Senators Jim Talent, George Allen in Virginia, Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania, and Conrad Burns in Montana.

A new television ad attacking Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill features photos of Hispanic men and women carrying Mexican flags with a female voice delivering the following message:

Between 10 and 12 million illegal immigrants reside in America costing taxpayers more than $45 billion a year. How did so many illegal immigrants get here? They walked right in.

Claire McCaskill does not favor restrictive measures to protect our security, like a border fence.

If Claire McCaskill’s view prevails, America won’t be America anymore.

The ad is paid for by a group called Americans for Honesty on Issues. The group’s Web site does not give an address or phone number, nor does it list any of the officers or sponsors. It says only, “Americans for Honesty on Issues is organized to engage in political issue communications in compliance with federal and state laws.”

According to Wikipedia, the group is a Houston, Texas based “527″ that has spent over one million dollars on television advertisements, critical of Democratic candidates.

“527″ groups are tax-exempt organizations that participate in political activities, typically via soft money contributions, which have no legal limit. By federal law, they are not allowed to coordinate their efforts with political campaigns. According to the New York Times, if past trends hold, the total raised and spent by such groups on this election will surpass $300 million, eclipsing the $258 million spent by such groups in the last midterm election, in 2002.

Again according to Wikipedia, Bob J. Perry, a Houston construction firm owner, appears to be the sole funder of AHI. Perry was the major funder of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, who ran a campaign against John Kerry in the 2004 election.

Sue Walden, a Houston business owner, is the president of AHI. Walden was a lobbyist for Enron and is considered a close ally of the former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who was forced to resign from Congress amid ethics scandals. Walden has been a Minor League Pioneer fundraiser for George W. Bush, raising $43,000, and was an adviser to Kenneth L. Lay, the former chief executive of Enron.

We’ll try to post the video as soon as we can find a version on the Web.

Opponents of Amendment 2 have put together a quick response to U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill’s powerful television ad featuring actor Michael J. Fox in support of the Stem Cell Initiative.

The Anti-Stem Cell ad features a handful of celebrities including former Rams quarterback Kurt Warner, Cardinals pitcher Jeff Suppan, and actors Patricia Heaton (”Everybody Loves Raymond”) and Jim Caviezel (”The Passion of the Christ”).

The ad was paid for by the Life Communications Fund. It appears to have been put together quickly, at times seemingly shot with a consumer camcorder. It is not clear if it is being considered for television at this time or if another version will be shot.

UPDATE: According to the Drudge Report, this ad will air tomorrow during Game 4 of the World Series.

UPDATE 2: This video from a Chicago TV station and this story in USA Today outlines some of the controversy stemming (no pun intended) from Michael J. Fox’s ad and comments made in response by conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

Related Stories:

New Ad Hits Talent on Stem Cell

READ IT HERE FIRST

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has started a new Internet ad this week again hitting Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill on her personal finances.

Estimating McCaskill’s net worth at between $13 million and $30 million, the GOP sites sources claiming she and her husband, entrepreneur Joseph Shepard, have gone to great lengths to pay little to no federal taxes.

“Claire McCaskill needs help,” says a female voice in the commercial. “She’s misplaced some of her income.”

The ad claims McCaskill owns a $3 million airplane registered in Delaware, a state with no sales or personal property taxes. “She’s misplaced some of her income in 150 limited partnerships,” says the voiceover.

McCaskill has defended her husband’s decision not to release his current tax returns to the media, saying they have released more than enough information on their personal finances and that her husband’s “complicated” tax returns would just be used to further distract from the important issues of the campaign.

Folks watching Game 2 of the World Series tonight might have seen this new ad from U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill attacking incumbent Sen. Jim Talent for his record of voting with Pres. George W. Bush.

The 30-second ad highlights Talent’s record of voting 94% of the time in support of the President’s agenda, according to Congressional Quarterly.

Earlier this month, during their “Meet the Press” debate, host Tim Russert asked Talent, “Why shouldn’t voters in Missouri say ‘Jim Talent is a rubber stamp for George W. Bush. If I disagree with George W. Bush, goodbye, Talent’?”

“Why don’t they ever say in those surveys that the president agreed with me a certain percentage of the time?,” joked Talent. “I mean, I’ve been in public life a lot longer when he has. When I went into Congress, I think he was still running the Texas Rangers.”