When my business partner and I formed Donkey On The Edge Productions a year ago, it was our hope that we would be able to parlay our years of advertising experience into a progressive advocacy production company. So far, we've been lucky enough to work with Courage Campaign on a couple of videos and now we're thrilled to be working with Blue America on a project that I am so excited about.
This year's fight for real health care reform is arguably the biggest battle the modern progressive movement has fought or ever will fight. As the focus shifts from the House to the Senate where we have a putative "filibuster proof" majority but where conservative Democrats are threatening to join a Republican filibuster, we must hold those Democrats' feet to the fire. So when Blue America approached us about producing an ad to help pressure Senator Blanche Lincoln to allow an up or down vote on the public option, we jumped at the chance.
Armed with the PCCC's & DFA's recent poll of Arkansans' views of Senator Lincoln as well as the amount of money she's taken from the insurance industry over the years, we produced an ad that The Democratic Strategist called:
...very tough, and graphically amusing, depicting Senator Lincoln all gussied up like a NASCAR driver, only the ads pasted all over her jumpsuit are for her many health care contributors.
You can watch it below:
One of the great things about this whole project is that it truly is people-powered. Blue America is using online donations to air the ad throughout Arkansas and we're hoping to air it for another couple weeks. Howie Klein posted a great diary about how they're targeting the ad in Arkansas and how far even a very small contribution can go.
Blanche Lincoln depends on the heavily Democratic counties of eastern Arkansas to win her races-- Crittenden, Saint Francis, Lee, Phillips, Desha, Chicot and Woodruff. She couldn't win re-election without them. And the people in this part of the state are overwhelmingly in favor of meaningful healthcare reform. They favor the public option by massive numbers. And it's crucial that they understand that it's Blanche Lincoln who has been working against meaningful reform-- and doing so on behalf of the insurance and medical industries that have been flooding her campaign coffers with "contributions." [...]
So... would you help us keep our ads running in eastern Arkansas through the Memphis media market? The most expensive spots are $8.00! And like I said earlier, CNN's American Morning is $3.00. So is Wolfie's Situation Room and Studio B With Shepard Smith, The Live Desk, and Cashin' In on Fox. Speaking of Fox, though, you could consider a splurge and let us put more ads up on Huckabee-- this is Arkansas we're talking about-- which costs $8.00 a spot.
Will you help us keep our ad up on the air in Arkansas? You can contribute at ActBlue here. As Howie says, even very small amounts will help!
Now that we see the Senate health reform bill, Blanche Lincoln truly has no excuse not to at least let it go to the floor for an up or down vote. The cost of the bill is under President Obama's $900 billion threshold, it reduces the deficit by $127 billion over ten years AND Arkansas can even opt out of the public option if they so choose. Now is the time to keep the pressure on and keep our ad up on the air in Arkansas.
Contribute at ActBlue today.