Trailing in some S.C. polls, Edwards slams Clinton, Obama in ads

John Edwards, trailing in his native South Carolina, took direct aim for the first time at Democratic rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in a series of bite-sized TV ads.

The four 10-second spots, which began airing yesterday in South Carolina, all show photos of Clinton and Obama while the announcer poses a question. In one, the query is: "Which Democrat opposed NAFTA and other trade deals that send American jobs overseas?" In the second, "Which Democrat has never taken a dime of campaign money from Washington lobbyists?" In the third, "Who's the only Democrat who would ban Washington lobbyists from the White House staff?" And in the fourth, "Who's the only Democrat that beats all the Republicans in the recent CNN poll?"

They all end with, "John Edwards is the only one."

The ads represent a new tack by Edwards, who won South Carolina in 2004, but is a distant third in the latest polls leading up to the Jan. 26 primary.

FOON RHEE

WASHINGTON - Supporters of an independent presidential bid by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York launched a 50-state petition drive yesterday seeking to draft the billionaire, who appears to be edging closer to entering the race.

The petition effort was announced by two veteran political hands who say the current system in Washington is broken and needs a nonpartisan, pragmatic leader like Bloomberg. Gerald Rafshoon, a former spokesman for President Carter, and Doug Bailey, a longtime Republican consultant, filed papers with the Federal Election Commission and the IRS to start the effort.

Bloomberg, a 65-year-old Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent, continues to maintain that he is not a candidate, but has quietly been polling and conducting a sophisticated voter analysis in every state.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON - A conservative group must abide by campaign finance laws if it wants to run advertisements promoting its anti-Hillary Clinton movie, a panel of federal judges ruled yesterday.

Citizens United had hoped to run the television advertisements in key election states during peak primary season.

The court ruling means the group must either keep its ads off the air or attach a disclaimer and disclose its donors.

Lawyers for the group had argued that its 90-minute "Hillary: The Movie" was no different from documentaries seen on the television news shows "60 Minutes" and "Nova."

Campaign regulations prohibit corporations and unions from paying for ads that run close to elections and identify candidates. Citizens United argued that the advertisements promoted the movie and should be treated as commercial speech.

The three-judge panel unanimously disagreed. The film does not address legislative issues and was produced solely "to inform the electorate that Senator Clinton is unfit for office, that the United States would be a dangerous place in a President Hillary Clinton world, and that viewers should vote against her," US District Judge Royce C. Lamberth wrote.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

There's been quite a bit of talk about the Nevada caucuses and how they will add diversity to the presidential nomination process by being held earlier in the calendar.

But the Democratic and Republican parties neglected one group in scheduling the caucuses on Saturday morning - Nevada's Jewish population, which will be celebrating its Sabbath.

The GOP caucuses start at 9 a.m. local time, and the Democratic meetings at 11 a.m. Those times directly conflict with services at synagogues, and tradition dictates that Jews don't work or travel all day.

Yesterday, Interfaith Alliance, an organization based in Washington, D.C., called on Nevada's political parties to make sure the conflict doesn't recur in 2012.

FOON RHEE