Television Ad War On Alito Begins

[Judi Lynn]

Television Ad War On Alito Begins
Liberals Try to Paint Court Pick as Tool Of the Right Wing

By Jo Becker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 18, 2005; Page A03

The battle over Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. moved to the nation's airwaves yesterday, as conservative and liberal groups bought advertising time that could dwarf the meager efforts made in this year's other two confirmation efforts.

As Alito continued his round of courtesy calls on senators, his critics launched new television ads painting him as a tool of right-wing conservatives. Supporters, meanwhile, announced ads that say his opponents, not Alito, are outside the political mainstream.

The ad buys, as well as the early clashes between the interest groups, are another signal that Alito's confirmation will be more contentious and hard-fought than was that of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who was confirmed in September to replace the late William H. Rehnquist.
(snip/...)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/17/AR2005111701778.html?nav=rss_politics

[MaineDem]

1. I just saw one

I assume Maine's two Senators are targets. It was a definite anti-Alito ad.

On edit...I just read this in our local paper:

WASHINGTON — National coalitions working for and against Judge Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court began airing television ads in Maine Thursday, targeting the votes of Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. The ads, which appeared two months before the expected Senate vote, demonstrate the intense conflict over the nomination and the pivotal role that Maine's senators will play in the debate.

Snowe and Collins, both R-Maine, haven't said how they will vote on Alito's nomination to succeed Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Hearings begin Jan. 9, with a vote expected later that month.

Opposition ads from the umbrella group IndependentCourt.org highlight Alito's record on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as "troubling." The ads are running on national cable news programs, and in Maine and Rhode Island specifically. Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., is also considered a pivotal vote.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/051118alito.shtml

[DeepModem Mom]

2. One Nominee (Alito), Two Very Different Portraits in a New Round of Ads

NYT: One Nominee, Two Very Different Portraits in a New Round of Ads
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: November 18, 2005


WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 - The fight over the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. spilled out from the Senate to the national airwaves Thursday as liberal and conservatives groups began running commercials presenting radically different images of the same judge.

A coalition of liberal groups began an advertising campaign portraying Judge Alito as a darling of conservatives like Patrick J. Buchanan and Rush Limbaugh. They asserted that he had condoned the strip-search of a 10-year-old girl, voted as a judge to ease safeguards against employment discrimination and advocated overturning Roe v. Wade.

Progress for America, a conservative group close to the White House, began a television campaign in which Judge Alito's former law clerks attest to his fairness and impartiality as a jurist.

Another conservative group, Committee for Justice, ran commercials accusing one of the liberal coalition's flagship groups, People for the American Way, of being out of the mainstream because it supports same-sex marriage, defends the right to burn the flag and opposes Internet pornography filters in public libraries.

Although the initial purchases for the next week amounted to only a few hundred thousand dollars from each side, the groups pledged to spend as much as needed over the two months leading up to the confirmation hearings....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/18/politics/politicsspecial1/18confirm.html