Obama's Political Arm Wants Money for Ads

5013485President Obama's political group Organizing for America is raising money to run nationwide television ads featuring Americans telling their health care stories.

In an e-mail sent to supporters on Tuesday evening asking for donations, the group pitches the ads as a modern-day answer to the effective 1990's "Harry and Louise" ad. That commercial, which featured a fictional couple sitting at their kitchen table discussing their concerns with health care reform, had a hand in killing President Clinton's attempt at reform in the 1990's.

"Just imagine if this time around, the debate is shaped by real people, looking us in the eye, telling their actual story, and asking for our help to fix this broken system," says the e-mail, signed by Organizing for America Director Mitch Stewart. "Phony stories helped defeat health care reform in the past. But this time, real stories could be the reason we win."

The proposed ads would amplify the stories told on the group's Web site via the Health Care Stories For America database. Featuring hundreds of thousands of stories about American citizens and businesses that have been burdened by rising health care costs, the database is searchable by location and invites visitors to input their own stories.

The e-mail says airing the stories nationally could be a "breakthrough moment in this debate, when millions of Americans realize how urgent reform really is."