Civil rights groups are now stepping into the health care reform debate by launching a six-figure ad campaign, reports the Washington Post's Capital Briefing blog.
A coalition of a dozen civil rights organizations, including the NAACP and the National Council of La Raza, are releasing a series of ads reaching out to minority communities in North Carolina, Arkansas, Louisiana and Florida. Capital Briefing reports that the campaign will cost between $250,000 and $500,000 and the ads will air in both English and Spanish.
'I'm not going to let special-interest politicians throw 46 million of us under the bus," says the African-American narrator of the television ad, using a common estimate of the number of uninsured Americans.
In a statement on the ads, La Raza called for a health care plan with a public option that will cover all residents regardless of pre-existing conditions.
"Our organizations have been working tirelessly on health care reform all along. Now that it's crunch time, our collective efforts are critical to making sure that the reforms that become law enable everyone, including communities of color, to have access to affordable, quality health care," said Wade Henderson, president and chief executive officer of LCCR.
McClatchy reports that the first ads will appear Thursday and will target Sens. Kay Hagan, Blanche Lincoln, Mary Landrieu and George LeMieux.
Take a look at the ad here: