Democrats link McCain to Bush economy

Voters who watch cable news coverage of the Pennsylvania primary on Tuesday will likely see national Democrats' first TV spot going after John McCain.

With the struggling economy at the top of voters' issues list and with the economy seen as McCain's vulnerable spot, the ad tries to ties the presumptive Republican nominee to President Bush's record on the budget and jobs. It shows McCain claiming that Americans have had a "pretty good prosperous time" over the last seven years -- and contrasts the claim with a list of sobering statistics on rising unemployment, inflation, job losses, and gas prices.

"Do you feel better off?" the narrator says in the Democratic National Committee ad, which ends with these words on screen: "Is John McCain the Right Choice for America's Future?"

Entitled "Better Off," the ad is the latest variation on the "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" benchmark introduced to much effectiveness by Republican Ronald Reagan against Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter in 1980.

UPDATE: "Howard Dean's new ad recklessly distorts John McCain's statements and represents the sort of dishonest campaigning voters are sick of," Republican National Committee chief Mike Duncan said in a statement. "Echoing Obama's discredited attacks on John McCain will not make voters forget the Democrats' plans to raise taxes on hard-working Americans. The FEC reports that have been filed will show that the RNC maintains a huge financial advantage over the DNC, and to the extent Howard Dean can afford to actually run these ads, it will be out of a position of weakness."

UPDATE: Progressive Media USA, one of the independent groups with Democratic leanings organizing to oppose McCain, piled on this afternoon with an online video focusing on McCain's riches and lifestyle and suggesting he is out of touch with most Americans.

Done in a style reminiscent of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous," an announcer with a British accent attempting a Robin Leach impersonation catalogues McCain's wealth and says he earned it the old-fashioned way -- he married it, referring to his wife Cindy, a beer distributorship heiress.

"If he doesn't understand our problems, how will he solve them?" the narrator asks.