USA Today: Clinton allies denounce union's Spanish radio ad for Obama

[Omaha Steve]

http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2008/01/clinton-allies.html

Democrat Hillary Clinton's campaign put two Hispanic allies on the phone today with reporters in Nevada to protest a Spanish-language radio ad that attacks Clinton and urges support for Barack Obama. They said the ad comes from UNITE HERE, parent of the 60,000-member Culinary Workers Union backing Obama.

The ad, according to a translation from the Clinton camp, says Clinton supporters tried to block people from voting by filing a lawsuit against casino caucuses Saturday for shift workers on the Las Vegas Strip. It says Clinton is "shameless" and should not have allowed her friends to file the suit: "This is unforgivable, there is no respect."

Human rights activist Dolores Huerta called the ad "desperate." Maria Echaveste, a former deputy chief of staff in Bill Clinton's White House, called it an "outrageous" string of personal attacks that completely misrepresents Clinton's relationship with the Latino community. She said Obama should distance himself from it.

Democrat John Edwards' campaign also took Obama to task, and the Obama camp responded to both Edwards and Clinton. Update at 1:12 a.m. ET: Edwards himself issued a statement as well. Keep reading for all that and a translation of the ad script:

Here's what Edwards said:

Just three weeks ago Senator Obama was calling on me and Senator Clinton to demand that outside groups not run ads on our behalf. These new ads look like the same old nasty divisive politics that both Senators Obama and Clinton denounced just two days ago. It is extremely important for us to quit focusing on fights between politicians and instead focus on what we need to do for working people, for the Latino community in Nevada and across the country.

Here's what deputy Edwards campaign manager Jonathan Prince said:

When Senator Obama says turn the page, he obviously means turn to whatever page is most convenient. He loudly and repeatedly attacked independent ads by unions in Iowa as the product of special interests. But when a different outside group starts running ads on his behalf in Nevada, there's not a peep from him or his campaign. It must be because he's burning up the phone lines calling the head of UNITE HERE personally to demand he pulls the ads down right away.

FULL story at link.

[MethuenProgressive]

1. I like the class the Edwards Campaign showed on this.

Classy bunch, them Edwardians.