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New Obama Commercial Examined

Vote08: Facts Or Fiction Checks Claims Of New Ad

POSTED: 1:56 pm MDT September 16, 2008
UPDATED: 11:36 am MDT September 19, 2008

A new commercial by Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama paints his Republican opponent Sen. John McCain as out of touch and too close to unpopular President George W. Bush.

But the commercial has some misleading statements, a 7News' Vote-08: Facts or Fiction investigation found.

"They share the same out-of-touch attitude," the Obama ad said.

This is a broad statement and one not backed up by the facts Obama’s campaign provided. The campaign cites that McCain couldn't remember how many houses he owns and that he said gas was $3.79 a gallon during a speech in Aspen, Colo., when Aspen residents, who are mostly wealthy, were paying $5 per gallon.

The fact that McCain is wealthy -- mostly because of his wife's money -- doesn't prove he is out of touch with average voters and misquoting the price of gas in Aspen while accurately quoting the average price also doesn't prove he's is out of touch.

So this statement is misleading.

"The same questionable ties to lobbyists," the ad says.

It is a fact that McCain has lobbyists working on his campaign, but his campaign says all the lobbyists have taken a leave of absence. But the claim misleadingly implies that McCain is in the pocket of lobbyists. McCain has sponsored campaign reforms that have helped limit the influence of money in politics and fought against special interests.

"The same plan to spend $10 billion a month in Iraq when we should be rebuilding America," the commercial says.

"I voted with the president over 90 percent of the time, higher than a lot of my even Republican colleagues," the commercial quotes McCain saying in 2003.

Both of these are fact. McCain wants to continue U.S. troops in Iraq until the war is won and current estimates say that would cost $10 billion a month. And the quote about voting with the president is on tape so it is difficult to dispute.

A McCain spokesman said McCain hasn't put out a figure on how much he will spend in Iraq and that he touted voting with the president to help Bush get re-elected in 2004.

On Friday night, CALL7 investigators will examine the facts and fiction in a political ad by McCain, attacking Obama as a tax-and-spend candidate.

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