The National Republican Congressional Committee is targeting three veteran Democrats who voted for the House version of the health care bill in a weeklong round of television ads that will begin airing on Thursday.
The new 30-second spots hit Democratic Reps. Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota, Vic Snyder of Arkansas and John M. Spratt Jr. of South Carolina for their votes by using the words of fellow Democratic legislators who opposed the legislation.
Among the statements the NRCC uses in it' new ad against Pomeroy is one released by the office of Rep. Dan Boren, D-Okla., when he announced he was going to buck his party and vote no on the bill two days before the vote came to the floor.
"The worst thing we could do during a recession is raise taxes and this bill does just that," Boren said in his statement.
That quote, and others by Democratic Reps. Bobby Bright of Alabama, Travis W. Childers of Mississippi and Chet Edwards of Texas are juxtaposed against a picture of Pomeroy.
"The reviews on Earl Pomeroy's health care bill are in, and they're not good," an announcer says before the statements by dissenting Democrats are read.
"And that's just what fellow Democrats say about Earl Pomeroy's national health care bill. Earl Pomeroy, tell him we can't afford it any more."
Pomeroy, Snyder and Spratt all won re-election with relative ease in 2008 despite the fact that they each sit in districts that went for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in last year's presidential contest. But as they look to spread the field ahead of what many expect to be a better environment for the GOP in 2010, the NRCC is putting pressure on several veteran Democrats.
Recent polling has shown that Snyder would be in for a tough election against any of three Republicans -- insurance executive David Meeks, restaurateur Scott Wallace and former U.S. attorney Timothy Griffin -- who have already announced against him. Spratt recently picked up a challenge in October from South Carolina state Sen. Mick Mulvaney and Pomeroy is facing a challenge from little-known insurance salesman Paul Schaffner.
The ads are set to run for a week in the Little Rock, Ark., Bismarck, N.D., and Charlotte, N.C., media markets. An NRCC spokesman called the size of the buy "significant" but declined to go into any further detail. A Democratic source said that their ad buy tracking showed the buy was small, but also would not provide exact details on its scope.
CQ Politics rates the general election race in North Dakota as Safe Democratic;; the Arkansas race as Likely Democratic; and the South Carolina contest as Safe Democratic.
To follow the 2010 House races, check out the CQ Politics election map
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