ABC News? David Chalian Reports: The Democratic National Committee is keeping up the pressure on its own party members to support President Obama?s health care reform efforts.
The ads apparently don?t seem to be upsetting Democratic elected officials enough for them to register a direct complaint with DNC Chairman Tim Kaine.
The DNC is careful not to cite any particular member of Congress in the ad. Instead, the ad simply describes the need for health care reform and urges viewers to call their elected officials in Congress and tell them to support reform legislation making its way through Capitol Hill.
It is still quite extraordinary for a president to apply this kind of paid and targeted political pressure on members of his own party to help pass his agenda. It is also a clear sign that the votes aren't there yet for the president and his team.
?We?ve started to run them and people know how to find me. In fact, I?m very easy to find,? Gov. Kaine told ABC News. ?I have not gotten one call from anybody in leadership or even any elected member saying this is unhelpful. I think, frankly, many of them are looking for their constituents to tell them, ?Go for it, let?s do reform and let?s do it now,?? he added.
After launching television ads in states with key moderate Democrats earlier this week,Organizing for America, President Obama?s campaign organization now housed at the DNC, announced today it is expanding the television buy to 15 additional markets targeting potentially key Democratic members of the House of Representatives. Those new markets include: Savannah, Ga.; Palm Springs,Calif.; Seattle; Nashville, Tenn.; Bloomington, Ind.; Sacramento, Calif.;Salt Lake City, Utah; New Orleans; Pittsburgh, Charlotte, N.C.; Little Rock, Ark.; Columbus, Ohio; Marquette, Mich; Grand Rapids, Mich.and Medford, Ore.
When the first round of ads hit the airwaves last week, Senate majority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters he thought they were a ?waste of money.?
Sen. Reid?s spokesman later walked back those comments, saying that the senator had no problems with the ads.
?The way we look at it is, we want people to call their senators or representatives of both parties and say, ?We?ll support you if you do this,?” Gov. Kaine said.
?Health reform, it?s a heavy lift because every president has tried it and every Congress has tried it and they haven?t been able to do it,” Kaine added. “But the ads say, and I think what they?re going to generate, is citizens telling their representatives, ?Support this. Do the heavy lift and we?ll support you.? That?s what they?re about.”
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