Sierra Club Trashes Bush

The CBS News Political Unit is tracking the latest campaign commercials. Jane Ruvelson analyzes a new Sierra Club ad that criticizes Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

The Ad:
The Sierra Club has released its fifth ad attacking presidential hopeful George Bush. The spot, titled Texas Testimonials, is currently running in four swing states, targeting the St. Louis, Milwaukee, Detroit and Lansing, Mich., markets. It will begin running in Ohio next week.

Texas Testimonials asks viewers to contact Bush regarding federal legislation which it says would weaken penalties for clean air and water violations. The Sierra Club is spending about $250,000 on the ad, a fraction of its $8 million election year campaign budget.

Audio:
Ed Parten: "All of our lakes, all have water quality problems."
Announcer: "Texas leads the nation in the number of factories violating clean water standards."
Tamara Maschino: "We have too many children on breathing machines, too many people with asthma."
Announcer: "Texas has the most industrial air pollution in the nation."
Tamara Machino: "We're in a crisis situation."
Ed Parten: "We've contacted George Bush's office and he has the attitude he's not interested."
Announcer: "Call George Bush. Tell him to oppose legislation in Congress that weakens penalties for clean air and water violators. For our families, for our future."

Visual:
Ed Parten, an angler from rural Texas sits next to a lake. Tamara Maschino, a suburban Houston mother, talks to other mothers seated around a dining room table. A doctor hooks up a little girl to a breathing machine. While the announcer narrates, viewers see pictures of factory smokestacks and waste pouring into a river.

Fact Check:
No inaccuracies, though Parten's assertion that Bush has a "not interested" attitude about water pollution is based on his interactions with a Bush staffer, not statements or actions by the governor himself.

The Strategy:
The Sierra Club's call to action on two congressional bills serves as a vehicle for communicating Texas' record to the rest of the country. Specifically, the environmental group targets five battleground states, all keys to winning November's election. As Bush goes up against Vice President Al Gore, who positions himself as an environmentalist, ads like Texas Testimonial may help propel the environment onto Americans' list of election-year priorities.