Veterans pursued by a pair of policy ads

WASHINGTON

Hampton Roads voters, particularly veterans, are being targeted by a pair of television ad campaigns designed to rekindle the national debate over the future of the U.S. mission in Iraq.

Vets for Freedom, a 2-year-old group that claims membership of 25,000 veterans nationwide, on Wednesday launched a five-state, $1.5 million ad effort that attacks the positions taken by Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama on the Iraq war. It argues that the next president should "finish the job" in Iraq.

The AFL-CIO, the organized labor powerhouse that has been a player in national political campaigns for decades, said Wednesday it will begin airing an ad in Virginia and five other states today that attacks Republican candidate Sen. John McCain's support for the Bush administration's war policies.

The 30-second television spot produced by Vets for Freedom is the forerunner of what the group expects to be a national campaign that will cost in excess of $10 million, said Pete Hegseth, the group's chairman.

Most of the effort, including promotions on talk-radio programs, mailings and grassroots organizing, will be focused in 12 states, Hegseth said, particularly areas with large numbers of veterans.

In Virginia, the group's current ad is running in Hampton Roads and the Washington suburbs. The group is spending only $76,000 on air time in the state.

Vets for Freedom's efforts are being fueled by donations from thousands of people nationwide, Hegseth said. He said the group will not release donors' names nor the size of their donations. The group is registered under a section of federal tax law that allows it to advertise and organize on behalf of particular policies while maintaining the confidentiality of its donors.

Donations to political campaigns or political action committees, by contrast, generally must be reported and are limited by law.

"I don't want to have to print out names of thousands of Americans for everyone to dish through.... We've been very straightforward with our donors - that if they give, their names aren't disclosed," Hegseth said.

Steve Weissman, associate director of the Campaign Finance Institute at George Washington University, said a growing number of issue activists are using the tax provision to shield their donors.

The groups risk losing their tax-exempt status if they engage in advocacy on behalf of or against a specific candidate, Weissman said. But if the groups direct their advocacy to particular policies, donors "can influence an election without anyone knowing who is doing it."

Groups including Planned Parenthood and the National Rifle Association have used the tax provision for years, Weissman said.

The new Vets for Freedom commercial does not mention any candidate, but its upbeat view of the security situation in Iraq closely tracks that of Republicans such as U.S. Rep. Thelma Drake of Norfolk, who is being challenged this fall by Democrat Glenn Nye.

The commercial features veterans proclaiming the success of the troop surge into Iraq that began last year.

"Casualties are at an all-time low. Al-Qaida in Iraq is decimated.... We changed strategy in Iraq and the surge worked. Now that's change we can believe in," the vets argue.

The ad's punch line is an echo of Obama's campaign slogan. Its use seems likely to rekindle questions about Vets for Freedom's connections to the McCain campaign.

While Hegseth stressed the group's non partisanship and noted that its political action arm has endorsed several Democrats, he has acknowledged in the past that it's pro-surge views parallel McCain's.

Vets for Freedom also operates a political action committee that attacked Obama directly this spring over his failure to visit Iraq since January 2006, before the surge began.

Obama opposed the surge and has promised to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq within 16 months of his election. Hegseth stressed repeatedly Wednesday that Vets for Freedom opposes such timelines.

Two of McCain's most prominent supporters and occasional surrogates, Sens. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., gave up positions on Vets for Freedom's advisory board last month because their involvement violated the McCain campaign's conflict-of-interest guidelines.

While the Vets for Freedom ads avoid mentioning Obama, the AFL-CIO, which operates under different legal restrictions, has endorsed the Democrat and goes after McCain aggressively in its new commercial. The union has pledged to spend up to $50 million to aid Obama.

"Every vet respects John McCain's war record," Navy vet Jim Wasser says in the ad. "It's his record in the Senate that I have a problem with."

Dale Eisman, (703) 913-9872, dale.eisman@pilotonline.com