Obama for America

"Minute"
Two-minute ad run in IN and NC, announced May 3, 2008.  

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[Music] Male Announcer: North Carolina values.  Hard work, community, keeping your word.

There’s a candidate who shares those values, who thinks differently than those who’ve spent decades in Washington.  [fade in cheers]

Barack Obama.

Obama: Politics didn’t lead me to working people.  Working people led me to politics.

Announcer: After college, he began his career as a community organizer, helping neighborhoods devastated by steel plant closings.

Obama: I worked with churches to help those workers get back on their feet.

Announcer: For two decades in public life, he’s stood up to powerful interests on behalf of people, taking tough stands, bringing parties together to get things done.

It says something about the president he’d be.  [applause]

Obama: It’s not enough just to change political parties in the White House, we’ve got to change how our politics works.

Announcer: Now, he’s visiting cities and towns across North Carolina.

Obama: People are struggling.  Jobs disappearing, nothing taking their place.  Families facing foreclosure, the cost of everything from healthcare to groceries to gas at the pump going up and up and up.

Announcer: And at each stop, he trusts us with the truth.

Obama: We could suspend the gas tax for six months.  But that’s not gonna bring down gas prices long-term.

Obama: That’s typical of how Washington works.  Let’s find some short-term quick fix that we can say we did something even though we’re not really doing anything.

We’ve got to go after the oil companies and look at their price-gouging.  We’ve got to start using less oil, and that means raising fuel-efficiency standards on cars and developing alternative fuels.  [cheers]

Announcer: It’s a new kind of politics.  With a plan to bring our troops home.  Turn around this economy.  Deliver real tax relief for the middle class.  And bring back some hope at a time when it’s desperately needed.

Obama: That’s why May 6th is so important.  We’ve got a choice.  We can go about doing the same old things with the same old folks in the same old ways and somehow hope we’re going to get a different result.  Or we can go ahead and try something entirely different.  [cheers]  You and I together, we’ll change this country and change the world.

Obama: I’m Barack Obama, and I approve this message.
 

  
Notes: A montage of images and clips of Obama speaking and interacting with people.  The Indiana version is very similar; it has a few different images (opening image at right) and a couple of differences in the sound track.  The Indiana version opens with, "Indiana values.  Hard work..." [the values are the same].  Also, instead of "cities and towns across North Carolina," the announcer refers to "cities and towns across Indiana."  The next sentences, from Obama, are Indiana specific: "I meet Hoosiers who are struggling. Jobs disappearing, families facing foreclosure, the cost of everything from healthcare to tuition to groceries to gas at the pump going up and up and up."


According to the May 3 press release from the campaign:

The ads will air predominantly during the evening news on Monday, but will play in some markets as soon as Sunday evening.

In the new spots, Obama makes his closing argument to Indiana and North Carolina voters, outlining his plans to put an end to the divisive, calculated politics in Washington.  In the ads, Obama continues to speak out against a gas tax holiday, which is nothing more than Washington politics as usual at its worst. 

The ads highlight Barack Obama as the candidate who will stand up to the special interests, truly invest in the middle class, and deliver real change that matters in the lives of working families across our country.