Democratic front group hits Lowden in TV ad on ‘chickens for checkups’ plan
The chickens have come home to roost in the U.S. Senate race in Nevada.
A Democratic Party front group on Friday released its first TV ad in the Senate race, attacking Sue Lowden for suggesting people can barter with their doctors to get cheaper health care.
The ad by the "Patriot Majority" political action committee makes fun of what it calls the Republican candidate's "chickens for checkups" plan.
The spot starts with Lowden defending remarks she made at an early April town hall meeting in Mesquite where she said sometimes doctors give discounts if you barter.
"In the olden days our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor," Lowden says during a later TV show where she refused to back down from her comments.
The 30-second ad then shows several "man on the street" interviews with unnamed men and women who question the idea.
"I don't know how the docs would feel about me bringing a chicken into the doctor's office, eh," the first man says, smiling from inside his car.
Another woman says, "I think it's a little out of touch."
The ads will run statewide for one week, according to Craig Varoga, president of Patriot Majority.
Varoga is a former press secretary for U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic incumbent who's in a tough fight for re-election and who is running behind his potential Republican opponents, including GOP front-runner Lowden, a former state senator and casino executive, Las Vegas businessman Danny Tarkanian and former Reno Assemblywoman Sharron Angle.
Patriot America is one of the nation's most well-funded "527" tax-exempt groups, which can spend money in political races but is prohibited by law from coordinating with campaigns. It supports Democratic candidates and opposes Republicans. Its top donors in 2010 so far are union groups, the mining industry and casino operators such as Harrah's.
Lowden's "chickengate" gaff has become fodder for late-night TV comedians and has prompted national ridicule, raising questions about her lasting strength as a candidate.
Lowden finally went on the offensive Friday.
In an op/ed published in Politico, the must-read newspaper and website for politicians and activists in Washington and nationwide, Lowden attacked Reid and the health care reform law that the Senate majority leader helped pass over GOP objections and despite concerns from voters who are deeply divided about how it will affect them.
"Reid knows his new health care entitlement plan is so unpopular in Nevada that he and his liberal allies attacked me for revealing at a town hall meeting that many patients and doctors in our state have bartered, bargained and negotiated for their health services at reduced costs," Lowden writes in Politico.
Lowden said she never meant her comments to be taken as a plan to fix the health care system, but as an example of what people sometimes do when faced with high bills.
"The comment I made about bartering was not, and was never intended to be, a policy proopsal," she writes. "It was an example of how struggling families are working to pay for medical care in any way they can during these tough times. The truth is that Reid is so out of touch with these hardworking American families that he needs political theater to distract Nevadans from both his own unpopularity and the costs of his plan."
Lowden e-mailed her Politico piece to her supporters, asking them to donate to her campaign.
Her GOP rival, Tarkanian, did the same thing, using her defense in a TV interview and in Politico to raise money and raise questions about his foe.
"We simply can't take a chance on a candidate that is unprepared," Tarkanian said in one of two fund-raising pleas. "Harry Reid will be a tough general election opponent and we can't waste this opportunity."
Below are the links to the Patriot America TV ad and Lowden's op/ed piece:
