War Veterans Lend Support to Lieberman in TV Ads
By JENNIFER MEDINA
</NYT_BYLINE>Published: September 2, 2006
HARTFORD, Sept. 1 — An independent group, Vets for Freedom, will begin sponsoring television commercials early next week for Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, thanking him for his support of the war in Iraq.
Vets for Freedom is a group of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and has ties to top Republican leaders.
The ads feature four Connecticut veterans, who look directly at the camera and appear to finish one another’s sentences, after introducing themselves as veterans of the wars.
“When we were over there, it was important to know that someone had our back,’’ one veteran says.
“Like Senator Lieberman,” adds a second.
The ad continues with four phrases, with each veteran saying one: “No matter how complicated it got,’’
“He was there for us.’’
“Now that we’re home, we’re here for him.”
“He stood with troops and their mission.”
The ads will begin on Wednesday, with the group spending $75,000 to $100,000 for two days’ viewing, primarily on cable news stations, but also on network affiliates in Hartford. The group plans to continue the campaign through the election cycle and will probably do another commercial, advisers to the group said.
The Virginia-based group was founded this summer as a 527 group, referring to the federal tax code that allows a nonpartisan group to advocate an issue or on behalf of candidates who support that issue.
The group is receiving advice from Taylor Gross, a former White House official; Bill Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard; and the Republican strategist Dan Senor. Mr. Lieberman’s former chief of staff, Bill Andresen, is also helping the group, which by law is prohibited from communicating with the campaign.
In the next two months, Mr. Senor said, the ads will be shown on cable news outlets in Connecticut, but the group will also place them in other national media markets. There are no plans to promote any other candidate, but that could change in the next several weeks, Mr. Senor said.
</NYT_HEADLINE>
By JENNIFER MEDINA
</NYT_BYLINE>Published: September 2, 2006
HARTFORD, Sept. 1 — An independent group, Vets for Freedom, will begin sponsoring television commercials early next week for Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, thanking him for his support of the war in Iraq.
Vets for Freedom is a group of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and has ties to top Republican leaders.
The ads feature four Connecticut veterans, who look directly at the camera and appear to finish one another’s sentences, after introducing themselves as veterans of the wars.
“When we were over there, it was important to know that someone had our back,’’ one veteran says.
“Like Senator Lieberman,” adds a second.
The ad continues with four phrases, with each veteran saying one: “No matter how complicated it got,’’
“He was there for us.’’
“Now that we’re home, we’re here for him.”
“He stood with troops and their mission.”
The ads will begin on Wednesday, with the group spending $75,000 to $100,000 for two days’ viewing, primarily on cable news stations, but also on network affiliates in Hartford. The group plans to continue the campaign through the election cycle and will probably do another commercial, advisers to the group said.
The Virginia-based group was founded this summer as a 527 group, referring to the federal tax code that allows a nonpartisan group to advocate an issue or on behalf of candidates who support that issue.
The group is receiving advice from Taylor Gross, a former White House official; Bill Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard; and the Republican strategist Dan Senor. Mr. Lieberman’s former chief of staff, Bill Andresen, is also helping the group, which by law is prohibited from communicating with the campaign.
In the next two months, Mr. Senor said, the ads will be shown on cable news outlets in Connecticut, but the group will also place them in other national media markets. There are no plans to promote any other candidate, but that could change in the next several weeks, Mr. Senor said.
</NYT_HEADLINE>
