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MoveOn.org Political Action is out with a new ad featuring a talking moose and raising questions about Sarah Palin’s qualifications to be vice president. “You really gotta question John McCain’s judgment, picking Sarah Palin as his VP,” the moose says before pointing out that John McCain is 72 years old and “she could end up in charge.” The ad will run in locations Palin visits, starting in Las Vegas today.

MoveOn executive director Eli Pariser says of the ad, “Sarah Palin has shown the country exactly who she is in the last seven weeks, and it’s a picture of someone ill-equipped to lead. Her lack of experience and knowledge about critical issues our country is facing makes her a liability to the McCain-Palin ticket and the more attention she gets, the more it increases voter’s doubts.” Watch it:

There are two new attack spots from third party groups out today. The first, from 527 political organization BornAliveTruth.org, features Gianna Jessen, who says in the spot that she survived a failed abortion attempt 31 years ago.

"Can you imagine not giving babies their basic human rights no matter how they entered our world?" Jessen asks in the ad as photographs of babies appear onscreen.

"If Barack Obama had his way, I wouldn't be here," she continues. "Four times Barack Obama voted to oppose a law to protect babies left to die after failed abortions. Senator Obama, please support born alive infant protections. I'm living proof these babies have a right to live."

The New York Times explored the (rather complex) debate over Obama's position on "born alive" last month. In 2003, while an Illinois state senator, Obama led efforts to defeat the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, which concerned fetuses that survive botched abortions. A similar, federal version of the "born alive" law passed in Congress in 2002. Obama says he would have supported the federal version of the bill, even though he opposed the state version: The difference, he said, was that the state version also included language that could have undermined Roe. v. Wade. Obama's critics dispute that characterization, however.

The $350,000 spot from BornAliveTruth.org began airing today in Ohio and New Mexico. Watch it below:



Today's other third party spot comes from the liberal group MoveOn.org Political Action, which is spending $200,000 to run a spot called “My Friends” on national cable and in battleground states. "My Friends" suggests that McCain's real friends aren't American voters but Washington lobbyists with tied to his campaign.

The spot opens with video of McCain saying "my friends" over and over.

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MoveOn.org Political Action announced today that it spent half a million dollars to produce and air a new ad, called “Pocket,” in North Carolina. The ad ties N.C. Senator Elizabeth Dole, who is in a tough reelection fight, with presumptive GOP nominee John McCain, suggesting that both are "in the pocket of big oil.”

Obama has run ads suggesting the same of McCain, also using the phrase "in the pocket of big oil."

“We could have provided clean energy for a million homes," an announcer says as the spot opens on a shot of a young child in front of wind turbines. "Or created thousands of new jobs. Or reduced our dependence on foreign oil."

"Instead, John McCain and Elizabeth Dole allowed big oil companies to keep $13.5 billion dollars in tax breaks while taking huge contributions from Big Oil," he continues.

MoveOn explains this claim this way in its press release: "John McCain and Elizabeth Dole could have voted for cloture on the Energy Bill before the Senate in December, breaking the filibuster that granted $13.5 billion in continued tax breaks for oil companies (the bill, which needed only one more vote for cloture, would have repealed the 2004 and 2005 Bush tax breaks for the top five oil companies)."

The anouncer concludes: "John McCain and Elizabeth Dole: Two more Republicans in the pocket of big oil.”

UPDATE: The Republican National Committee' Amber Wilkerson responds: "The fact of the matter is that Barack Obama is the only candidate in this race who voted for the '05 Energy Bill, which gave nearly $3 billion in new giveaways to Big Oil, and he has received more from the pockets of employees at several of Big Oil’s largest and most recognizable companies.”

MoveOn.org Political Action has released its latest anti-McCain ad: "Gimmick." The spot features an actor speaking directly into the camera, telling McCain he "let me and my kids down."

The man says he told his kids McCain was "a principled guy." He continues: "So when you said you were going to help make driving affordable again, I believed you."

"And then your idea is to do offshore drilling, which I find out won't produce much oil for 10 years, and then barely save us any money anyway," he adds. "That's not a solution, Mr. McCain. That's a gimmick. We expected better." (Here's a CBS News fact check on offshore drilling.)

MoveOn, which is working with the Sierra Club and Campaign Money Watch, calls the new spot a sequel to "Not Alex," its ad featuring an actress portraying the mother of a baby. She tells McCain he "can’t have" her son to fight in Iraq.

MoveOn is spending $150,000 to run "Gimmick."

Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant emailed a response to the ad this morning: “A day after Barack Obama told voters to inflate their tires and reject domestic exploration, his special-interest friends are echoing his anti-drilling message on TV. Attacking John McCain’s solutions to America’s energy crisis and offering nothing but tire-maintenance advice will not reduce prices at the pump. Special-interest groups that oppose America maximizing its own natural resources hope Obama wins, but voters who want lower gas prices will support McCain.”

Watch it:



UPDATE: The Sierra Club has also released an anti-McCain, pro-Obama spot today, slated to run in New Hampshire, Colorado, Ohio and Washington, D.C.

"Big oil companies have our economy and politics in a choke hold," an announcer says in the spot...

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As we mentioned in Starting Gate, John McCain's campaign has released a new ad, "Global," that casts the presumptive GOP nominee as having "stood up" to President George W. Bush. The ad, which focuses on global warming, appears designed to appeal to voters disenchanted with the policies of Mr. Bush, whose approval rating stands at 25 percent.

"John McCain stood up to the President and sounded the alarm on global warming – five years ago," an announcer says in the 30-second spot, following a quick-cut montage of emissions from cars and factories. "Today, he has a realistic plan that will curb greenhouse gas emissions. A plan that will help grow our economy and protect our environment. Reform. Prosperity. Peace. John McCain."

Watch it:



Also today, MoveOn.org Political Action and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees jointly released an ad in which it implies – as many Democrats have – that John McCain wants to keep fighting in Iraq for 100 years. As we outlined here, the Arizona senator suggested in January that the U.S. could maintain a military presence in Iraq for "maybe 100" years. As McCain has repeatedly explained, however, he was talking about a military presence similar to that in Japan or Korea – not the sort of fighting force now in the country.

"Hi, John McCain, this is Alex," a young actress, sitting on a couch with a baby, says in the spot, "Not Alex."

"And he's my first," she continues. "So far, his talents include trying any new food and chasing after our dog. That, and making my heart pound every time I look at him. So, John McCain, when you said you would stay in Iraq for 100 years, were you counting on Alex? Because if you were, you can’t have him."

Watch it:



MoveOn and AFSCME say they will spend $540,000 to air the ad, both nationally and in Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin, starting tomorrow. They note in a press release that "[p]reliminary testing, conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research shows 'Not Alex' ranking among the most persuasive ads the pollsters have reviewed in the last four years."

Actor John Cusack appears in a new ad from liberal group MoveOn.org Political Action set to air nationally on Bravo and in the D.C. metro area on MSNBC, Comedy Central and CNN beginning tomorrow. In the spot, the "Say Anything" star ties presumptive GOP nominee John McCain to President Bush.

"Think you can tell President Bush apart from John McCain? Really?" asks Cusack, looking straight at the camera. "Pop quiz: Who supports keeping our troops in harm’s way in Iraq, but not a bipartisan GI Bill of rights to support them when they return home? Whose top advisers are linked to war profiteers? Who tried to convince Americans to privatize our Social Security? Who opposed health care for uninsured children last year? The answer is: Both."

Watch it:

John McCain is focusing on the environment today, and he has a new ad out in Oregon staking out a middle ground between global warming deniers and those who advocate steps such as significant tax increases to address the issue.

In the spot, McCain tells voters he believes climate change is real – but suggests that doesn't mean "high taxes and crippling regulation" are the answer to the problem.

"Our environment in peril, oil and food prices out of control, climate change wreaks havoc with deadly weather," an announcer says as the spot opens. "One extreme thinks high taxes and crippling regulation is the solution. Another denies the problem even exists. There's a better way."

McCain then begins to speak. "I believe that climate change is real," he says. "It's not just a greenhouse gas issue. It's a national security issue. We have an obligation to future generations to take action and fix it."

Watch it:



In other advertising news, MoveOn.org, the liberal advocacy group, has announced the winner of its “Obama in 30 Seconds” contest, in which a panel that included a number of celebrities chose one of the more than 1,100 spots submitted to the group. The winning ad, “Obamacan," features lifelong Republican and former US Air Force Staff Sergeant John Weiler discussing why he is supporting Barack Obama. MoveOn says it will spend $200,000 to run the spot on national cable and in Ohio, Wisconsin, and Colorado.

"How do you get to 100 years in Iraq?," asks liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org in a new Web ad targeting John McCain.

Their answer: "Six months at a time."

The spot shows McCain, President Bush, and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld making statements about the war as far back as 2003; McCain is quoted in December 2005, for example, saying "...we will probably see significant progress in the next six months to a year."

As these quotes are shown, the cost of the war – in lives and dollars – is shown at the bottom of the screen, steadily increasing.

The minute long spot winds down with a McCain quote from two days ago in which the Arizona senator is quoted saying "success is within reach."

It closes with this: "The Bush-McCain strategy: Endless war...on the installment plan."

Watch it:



UPDATE: Republican National Committee Spokesman Alex Conant emails a response: “Moveon.org’s strategy of retreat will leave Iraq to the terrorists and ultimately draw the U.S. into a wider and more costly war in the future. As major fact check and media organizations have confirmed, John McCain has never said that he wants the Iraq war to last 100 years – and any suggestion to the contrary is irresponsible. No one opposes war more than John McCain.”

Stars Come Out For MoveOn's Obama Ad Contest

MoveOn.org, the liberal activist group which has previously endorsed Barack Obama, announced its "Obama in 30 Seconds" TV ad contest, in which Obama supporters are invited to produce their own 30-second TV ad supporting the Illinois senator's candidacy. MoveOn will then purchase national TV time to run the winning ad.

MoveOn members and the general public will have first dibs on deciding which entries make it to the final round. Then On April 10th, the finalists will be judged by a star-studded panel, including Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Oliver Stone, Steve Buscemi, Jessie Jackson, John Legend and Naomi Wolf.

Besides the national exposure, the winning ad-maker will also receive—for whatever reason—a gift certificate for $20,000 in video equipment.

Entries can be submitted online at http://www.obamain30seconds.org/.

With voters in Texas going to the polls on Tuesday, MoveOn.org – which supports Barack Obama – has scheduled what the liberal organization is billing as the "Largest One-Day Phone Bank in Presidential Primary History" for this weekend.

Among the participants? Halle Berry, Sen. Ted Kennedy and Jim Hightower, who will be among those making 400,000 calls to Texas Democratic voters, MoveOn said in a release. "The primary and caucus in Texas could very well be the decisive vote in the nominating process, and our members are fired up to help out" said Eli Pariser, Executive Director of MoveOn.

Berry and her cohorts might not be fired up if they're pressed to explain to exactly what's happening on Tuesday on Texas, however, as the state's electoral system might charitably be called convoluted.

The Washington Post, which notes that the Texas delegate selection plan is 37 pages long (read it here!), offers a quick overview, noting that "two-thirds of the state's 228 delegates will be chosen based on the vote in each of 31 state Senate districts. The remaining delegates will be chosen based in part on the outcome of caucuses held on election night after the polls close."

That's just the beginning: Districts yield varying amounts of delegates based on the relative number of ballots cast in the 2004 presidential campaign and 2006 gubernatorial election, and the system could yield a situation reminiscent of the 2000 general election in which the winner of the popular vote does not win the most delegates.

As for the caucuses, you can only show up if you voted in the primary, and the Post notes that the lack of precinct chairs has created a situation in which inconsistency between precincts could influence the outcome. And then there's early voting, which began last week and is expected to be a significant factor, and the fact that 32 of the states 228 delegates are actually superdelegates not tied to the popular vote.

Finally, consider this: While Texas may offer the most confusing system we've seen so far this election season, it's far from alone. In Nevada, for example, Clinton won the popular vote but lost the delegate count, and political reporters have been puzzling their way through confusing rules about concepts like viability thresholds as this extended and unprecedented primary season has unfolded.

You might be among those who believe that elections should be simple. As the last few months have reminded us, more often than not they're anything but.