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The McCain and Obama campaigns are out with new ads this morning, as is an outside group called Health Care For America Now, which is promising to spend $4 million running spots asking McCain and other Republican candidates "why they back health care plans and policies that would leave millions of Americans on their own to fight the insurance industry."

The new McCain spot, "Folks," which paints Obama as an "extreme" liar, will air nationally, according to the campaign.

"Who is Barack Obama?" an announcer asks as the spot opens with ominous music playing in the background. "The National Journal says he's the Senate's most liberal. How extreme. But when pressed, how does he defend himself?"

The spot then cuts to Obama saying "They're not telling the truth. I hate to say that people are lying, but here's a situation where folks are lying."

"Mr. Obama, we all know the truth," the announcer then says, as video of Obama saying "folks are lying" is repeated three times.

Says the announcer: "Not presidential." Those words also appear onscreen.

As factcheck.org has pointed out, "the National Journal rated [Obama] the 16th most liberal in his first year and the 10th most liberal in his second. It rated his votes 'most liberal' only in 2007, when he was busy campaigning and missed one-third of the votes on which the rating is based."

And as we noted back in January, McCain missed so many votes in 2007 that he did not receive a composite score from the magazine.



The Obama spot, "Taketh," uses footage from last night's debate to hammer a point the Obama campaign has been making in recent weeks. The campaign says it will air on cable beginning today.

The spot opens with video of McCain saying, "I want to give every American a 5,000 dollar refundable tax credit."

The announcer than suggests that Obama is offering "the truth"...

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The Census Bureau said 45.7 million people - 15.3 percent of the population - were uninsured in 2007. But according to an advisor of Sen. John McCain who helped craft the Republican candidate's health care policy, those numbers are misleading.

In fact, says John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, the number of uninsured Americans is basically zero, and we wouldn't have this "problem" of lack of insurance in the United States if the Census Bureau simply stopped labeling people without policies as "uninsured."

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John McCain is discussing his health care plan this week, saying he wants to put "individuals and families back in charge, and [force] companies to respond with better service at lower cost." His new ad spotlights his proposal for a $5,000 refundable tax credit for every family, "so that they can go out across state lines and get the insurance policy that suits them best." (For the full script, see Starting Gate.)

Here's McCain's ad, in which the candidate himself makes his case:



There's another ad out today about McCain's health care plan, though it offers a very different message. Just consider the way the Service Employees International Union bills the spot in a press release: "SEIU BEGINS NATIONAL TV ASSAULT ON MCCAIN’S TERRIBLE HEALTHCARE 'PLAN.'”

The spot, which is running in Ohio and the District of Columbia, features what appear to be medical professionals discussing their jobs. "Our next president has to get health care costs under control," says one. Cue an announcer: "Like President Bush, John McCain won't stop rising health care costs. McCain opposed common sense ideas like letting seniors buy prescriptions through Medicare. And he joined Bush to oppose health care for children."

Watch it:

It's 1993 all over again. It may have taken a little while but the Democratic presidential contest is turning from personalities to sharp disagreement on issues just in time for what could be a decisive March 4th primary date. The issues driving the argument come right out of the 1990s.

Clinton lashed out at Obama over the weekend, accusing his campaign of sending out a misleading direct mail piece claiming that her health care proposal would force Americans to buy health care insurance whether they can afford to or not. "Shame on you, Barack Obama," Clinton told reporters Saturday. "It is time you ran a campaign consistent with your messages in public - that's what I expect from you."

For months, Clinton has raised differences in their competing health care proposals, seeking an advantage on an issue near the top of voter concerns and to highlight the experience she claims would make her a more effective president. Unlike Clinton, Obama's plan does not mandate that all adults be covered, a point she brings up at nearly every debate. Clinton's insistence that any approach to health care reform that does not start out with universal coverage is doomed to fail is designed to communicate a central message of her campaign – she knows the ways of Washington and can accomplish what Obama cannot.

But what advantage she might gain with that argument on health care is being blunted smartly by Obama's increasing focus on NAFTA, the free-trade agreement signed by former President Clinton in 1994 that is wildly unpopular among many Democrats – particularly those in industrial states like Ohio. Obama yesterday hammered Clinton for picking and choosing what she claims as experience. "The notion that you can selectively pick what you take credit for and then run away from what isn't politically convenient, that doesn't make sense," he said.

Obama's campaign has a separate mailer on NAFTA which the Clinton camp says is unfair. But it's a difficult issue to avoid – Bill Clinton made NAFTA a high priority early in his administration and if her experience is tied to those White House years, she can't easily separate the good from the unpopular. "I am fighting to change NAFTA," Clinton said Saturday. "Neither of us were in the Senate when NAFTA passed. Neither voted one way or the other." But only one of them is claiming eight years of White House experience as part of their resume, and it could prevent Clinton from winning this argument.

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The Clinton campaign has unveiled a new 30-second television ad, "Obligation," to be aired in Wisconsin, where voters go to the polls on Feb. 19th. The obligation in question? Universal health care.

"She fought for universal health care, long before it was popular," an announcer says in the spot. "Got health insurance for six million kids and expanded access to health care for the National Guard. Now, she's the only candidate for President with a plan to provide health care for every American."

Clinton rival Barack Obama offers a health care plan that would cover many Americans but leave some uninsured. Clinton has vowed to cover all Americans, though she has not specified an enforcement mechanism for making people pay for their health care.

"A top economist calls Hillary's plan, 'the difference between achieving universal health coverage and falling far short,'" the announcer continues. "If you believe health care is America's moral obligation, join her."

One of the big questions surrounding Hillary Clinton's universal health care plan has been the question of enforcement. That is: How will she mandate that all Americans pay for their health care?

On ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, Clinton provided some clues to how she might do so. "We will have an enforcement mechanism, whether it’s [garnishing people's wages] or it’s some other mechanism through the tax system or automatic enrollments,” she said.

Clinton further noted that "there are a number of mechanisms" that could be used, including "going after people's wages, automatic enrollment."

As the Associated Press notes, "Clinton said such measures would apply only to workers who can afford health coverage but refuse to buy it, which puts undue pressure on hospitals and emergency rooms."

Clinton's Democratic rival, Barack Obama, offers a plan that mandates health care coverage only for children and leaves some Americans uninsured. (Obama puts that figure at 3 million, while Clinton suggests it's closer to 15 million.)

Clinton has long resisted articulating an enforcement mechanism for mandating universal health care, which has prompted criticism from the Obama campaign. “Without an enforcement mechanism, there is no mandate," Obama has said.

Responding to Clinton's comments on Sunday, Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Clinton “again refused to directly answer the question" of enforcement.

The Clinton campaign must have been pleased with the way last night's debate went because they’re seem to want to keep talking about it. During remarks to reporters this morning reports CBS News' Fernando Suarez, Clinton was quick to claim that Obama entered the debate with an aggressive strategy.

"Senator Obama is very frustrated," she said. "The events of the last ten or so days, particularly the outcome of New Hampshire and Nevada have apparently convinced him to adopt a different strategy. He clearly came – he telegraphed it, he talked about it – he clearly came last night looking for a fight, and he was determined and launched right in."

Just in case anyone might have forgotten about last night's discussion, the Clinton campaign sent out a memo asserting that Obama has some answering to do. "From questions about his commitment to fiscal responsibility to his relationship with a donor currently under indictment to his consistency on key issues," the memo reads, "last night raised new issues that the Obama campaign must confront today."

At the bottom of the memo – a link to a new Web ad which compares Obama's insistence that he never supported the idea of going to a single-payer health care system to comments he made while running for the Senate in 2004 that make it appear he was advocating just that.

From CBS News' Scott Conroy, on the trail with the Mitt Romney campaign:

Addressing an audience composed mainly of medical students and professionals at Des Moines University on Tuesday, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney delivered a detailed policy speech on health care. Along the campaign trail, Romney often demonstrates a firm grasp on the nuances of the issue, but this speech provided something new: a prediction that it would take no more than four years to get every American insured under his plan.

“I just want to underscore something — we can get everybody in this country insured,” Romney said. “My plan is designed to get everybody in this country insured. My estimate is that from the time you would put in place this program—pass the legislation necessary to put in place this program — within four years every American would be insured.”

One of Romney’s signature achievements as Massachusetts governor was to push through a health care reform bill that required everyone in the state to have health insurance or face fines. Romney says that while he is proud of the plan he enacted in his state, he wants to take a federalist approach to the issue that would get more Americans covered with private insurance, rather than reverting to an expanded government program.

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What was once the signature achievement of Mitt Romney's time as Massachusetts governor – a plan aimed at ensuring all of the state's residents have health insurance – is today the target of Romney's rivals for the Republican nomination.

Why today? November 15 happens to be the deadline for Massachusetts residents to sign up for an insurance plan or else face tax penalties. As the Associated Press notes, this follows earlier incentives to sign up for coverage, such as an expansion of subsidized health care by the state, and a requirement for private insurers to offer less expensive policies.

Fred Thompson has struck the harshest blow so far. In a release today, after noting that Massachusetts residents face an average fine of $219 this year and $2,000 over the next year, the campaign points out that Romney's plan has a $50 co-pay for abortions and says "Mitt Romney's plan covers ALL abortions – no restrictions."

Other critiques have been more subtle. Rudy Giuliani spokeswoman Maria Comella closed out a schedule update for reporters with a reminder: "Before I forget, for all of you in Massachusetts who aren't signed up for health insurance, you have until Thursday before you get stuck with a fine."

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In a video posted on Fred Thompson’s campaign Web site today, the former Tennessee senator gives us his take on Hillary Clinton’s recently unveiled health care proposal. Thompson called the proposal "enough to make you sick," reports CBS News’ John Bentley. Thompson attacked the provision of her plan that would could possibly require job applicants to prove to their employers that they have health insurance. “That kind of mindset is that the government knows best and if you don't agree, then you're just going to have to pay for it, one way or the other,” he said. "To some Democrats, choice to them is like a cross is to a vampire - they don't like to see it coming down the road.”

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