MoveOn.org has brought back its "Red Handed" ads from the 2006 election to target vulnerable Republicans who have voted against health care reform.
The ads, released by MoveOn.org Political Action, will run in the districts of Republican Reps. Patrick Tiberi (R-OH) and Dave Reichert (R-WA) starting Thursday.
Tiberi and Reichert both serve on the House Ways and Means Committee and voted against reform in committee.
"While millions of Americans suffer, there are Republicans who are willing to base their votes on their relationship to the insurance industry and not on what is best for their constituents," stated Justin Ruben, Executive Director of MoveOn. "These ads send a powerful reminder that when it came time to choose between voting for health care reform that would lower costs and expand health care coverage or doing the bidding of their special interest donors, they chose the special interests."
When used in 2006 against Rep. Thelma Drake (R-Va.), the ad was called "brutally effective" by the New York Times. "MoveOn ads targeting the members of Congress, Pryce, Chocola, Drake and Nancy Johnson have effectively made the case that there is a close relationship between the contributions they collect and the votes they take in Congress," Rahm Emanuel, then head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said at the time. "These ads have clearly made second-tier races into first-tier contests."
Watch the Tiberi ad: