Ben Smith: "Sherrod records GOTV ad for NAACP" (with audio)

Ben Smith, with audio (00:31):

Former Department of Agriculture official Shirley Sherrod has recorded a get-out-the-vote PSA for the NAACP, expected to air on American Urban Radio Networks and some of its 300 AURN affiliates.

"The outcome is critical for our community," Sherrod says in the ad, which makes no reference to her firing by the Obama administration, which later apologized.

The ad is part of a turnout push by the organization that also includes a PSA from the actor Blair Underwood and a new portal for making GOTV phone calls.

"The upcoming midterm elections will determine the course of our nation just as much as the 2008 elections did," said NAACP president and CEO Benjamin Jealous in a statement.