"New Obama Ads: Listening and Interest"

The Caucus, with video (NY Times political blog):

Senator Barack Obama, attempting to show his unflagging energy and hitting back at his Democratic rivals, released two ads in Iowa on Friday that thump his opponents on lobbying and health care and remind viewers of the senator’s message of urgency.

The ads – called “Listening” and “Interest” – include footage from Mr. Obama’s pivotal speech at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner here in November and shots of his enthusiastic, mostly white supporters. His first political swipe in “Interest” is at independent groups that support Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards.

“While Iowans struggle with health costs, outside groups are spending millions to stop change, including false attacks on Barack Obama’s health plan,” the ad says, and shows footage of news articles about special interest groups and labor unions that have paid for ads attacking Mr. Obama.

In “Listening,” he nudges Mrs. Clinton on health care and Mr. Edwards on his connections with those groups, from which Mr. Edwards has tried to distance himself.

“I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over,” Mr. Obama said.

“Listening” and “Interest” both wrap up with Mr. Obama’s message to voters that he is one of them, not a cornerstone of the Washington establishment.

“Your future is our future,” he says in “Listening,” reminding voters that remembers their struggles, just as he did today during a campaign stop, in an attempt to establish a disconnect between Mrs. Clinton and American middle-class families.

“I think that’s part of what happens when you’re in Washington for a very long time,” he said at an elementary school in Williamsburg, Iowa. “It becomes harder to relinquish power.”

Barack Obama