Nevada Spanish-Language Ad Irks Clinton Campaign

A union supporting Barack Obama is running a Spanish-language radio ad that slams Hillary Clinton over the Nevada lawsuit to bar the so-called "casino caucuses."

FOXNews.com

Friday, January 18, 2008

A union supporting Barack Obama is running a Spanish-language radio ad that slams Hillary Clinton over the Nevada lawsuit to bar the so-called "casino caucuses."

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the at-large caucuses to be held in nine hotels along the Las Vegas strip is permissible since internal party decisions are not under the court's jurisdiction. Both the Nevada Democratic Party and Democratic National Committee last year signed off on the plan to give hotel employees the opportunity to go vote Saturday while they are at work.

A translation of the negative ad by labor group Unite Here says:

"Hillary Clinton does not respect our people. Hillary Clinton supporters went to court to prevent working people to vote this Saturday -- that is an embarrassment.

"Hillary Clinton supporters want to prevent people from voting in their workplace on Saturday. This is unforgivable. Hillary Clinton is shameless. Hillary Clinton should not allow her friends to attack our people's right to vote this Saturday. This is unforgivable; there's no respect

"Sen. Obama is defending our right to vote. Sen. Obama wants our votes. He respects our votes, our community, and our people."

The Clinton campaign is none too happy about the ad, particularly as the Clintons have repeatedly stated they had nothing to do with the lawsuit filed by the Nevada teachers union, whose leadership is tied to the Clinton camp.

Clinton campaign spokesman Phil Singer accused the Obama campaign of hypocrisy for attacking labor-backed ads in Iowa "but in Nevada, he's looking the other way as they falsely attack his opponents."

"Senator Obama apparently has no problem with groups running ads as long as they attack others. While that's audacious, its certainly not hopeful," Singer said.

On a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Hispanic labor leader and Clinton supporter Dolores Huerta called the ad "pathetic, and it's sad and unfortunate that they have to stoop so low."

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton responded that it's not the campaign's ad, and "if the Clinton campaign has questions, they should contact the union that sponsored the ad."

He goes on to say that "it takes some chutzpah" for the Clinton campaign to complain since it has been "repeatedly launching absolutely false attacks against Senator Obama. ... The fact is their camp clearly would like to have workers' voices silenced and they need to live with that unfortunate position."

 

RCP Poll

President Obama Job Approval

RCP Average: +5.6% Details
Approve 49.9%
Disapprove 44.3%

Congressional Job Approval

RCP Average: -37.3% Details
Approve 27.0%
Disapprove 64.3%

Direction of Country

RCP Average: -19.5% Details
Right Direction 37.7%
Wrong Track 57.2%