Rudy claims bump from MoveOn ad

MoveOn.org’s assault on former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) is proving a boon to the presidential hopeful’s coffers, according to a campaign official, but MoveOn insists the ads are leaving a negative mark.

{mosads}MoveOn.org announced Tuesday it is broadening its ad buy from an initial buy in Iowa to a national buy on CNN for a TV spot that attacks Giuliani as going “AWOL” on the Iraq Study Group.

The move follows the Tuesday release of a radio ad from Giuliani’s side that calls MoveOn “the most powerful left-wing group in the country” and Giuliani the group’s “worst nightmare.”

“Why is MoveOn attacking Rudy Giuliani? Because he’s their worst nightmare,” the ad’s narrator says. “They know Rudy is a Republican who can beat the Democrats.”

In a skirmish reminiscent of the one between former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) and conservative commentator Ann Coulter, the back-and-forth between the anti-war group and the former mayor has increased traffic to Giuliani’s website and inspired donors to open their wallets.

Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, used negative comments Coulter made to their advantage during a last-minute fundraising push as the second fundraising quarter came to a close.

Now with the third quarter’s end less than two weeks away, Giuliani might have found an unlikely ally as he looks to keep pace with millionaire candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R).

After questions were raised last week about The New York Times giving a discounted rate to MoveOn to run an ad calling Gen. David Petraeus “General Betray Us?” Giuliani circulated a plea asking supporters for money to run a rebuttal ad.

Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), a likely 2008 Senate candidate, on Tuesday asked Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to investigate whether The New York Times made an illegal campaign contribution to MoveOn by offering them the space at a discounted rate.

A Giuliani campaign official said Tuesday his colleagues had “blasted” around another e-mail after MoveOn began targeting Giuliani in Iowa.

“It would be safe to say that they have certainly motivated individuals to donate and get involved in the campaign,” the official said.

The campaign declined to quantify by how much website hits or donations have increased since the ad war began.
The executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action, Eli Pariser, conceded that the questions his group is raising, or the manner in which it’s raising them, may be helping the former mayor bring in money. But Pariser said that gate swings both ways.

The MoveOn ad that had been slated to run in Iowa at a buy of $50,000 and was increased to another $50,000 to run nationally on CNN is titled “Giuliani: A Betrayal of Trust,” and questions the former mayor’s lack of involvement with and ultimate resignation from the Iraq Study Group.

The ad says Giuliani “has always been a big fan of George Bush’s war in Iraq, but when Giuliani had a chance to do something about it, he went AWOL.”

“To the extent that it’s helping him with national donors, I think it’s also helping us and it’s hurting him on the most important issue of our time,” Pariser told The Hill.

He added that though MoveOn opposition may help Giuliani with Republican primary voters, the specific line of questioning will not help him in the long run.

“Whether it’s in the primary or the general election, that he bailed on the Iraq Study Group is going to come back to haunt him in a big way,” Pariser said.

Political analyst Charlie Cook, though dismissive of the first MoveOn ad dealing with Petraeus, agreed that the ad might prove harmful to Giuliani’s bid.

“While I thought the ‘General Betray Us?’ ad was silly and counterproductive for Democrats, who have tried very hard to not resurrect Vietnam-era images of being anti-military, the ad attacking Giuliani for not showing up for any of the Iraq Study Group meetings was good and goes to the heart of Rudy’s 9/11 persona,” Cook said in an e-mail.