Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is tackling Obamacare head-on in her first television ad of the 2014 cycle -- by touting her work to help Americans keep their cancelled plans.
The 30-second ad begins with news clips of Americans losing their health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act, despite President Obama's promise that "if you like your plan, you can keep it." The spot then details how she sponsored a bill to allow those people to keep their old plans, titled the "Keeping Affordable Care Act Promise."
"This is a promise that you made. This is a promise that you should keep," Landrieu says in one clip toward Obama, who eventually debuted a fix similar to the one Landrieu proposed.
“Thousands of Louisianians and millions of Americans that carried individual policies will now have an opportunity to keep those health care plans. The President made a promise, and Sen. Landrieu is working to make sure it is kept and will continue her legislative efforts to fix and improve the Affordable Care Act,” Landrieu campaign manager Adam Sullivan said in a statement.
According to her campaign, the $250,000-buy will air in the Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Alexandria, Shreveport and Monroe markets.
Landrieu is running for re-election in a state where President Obama got just 40% in 2012, and is considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats up for re-election. She’s facing GOP Rep. Bill Cassidy and Republican Rob Maness in the state’s Election Day all-party contest. If no candidate tops 50%, the top-two candidates, regardless of party, will advance to a December runoff.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee was quick to criticize her ad, arguing that it masked her support of the health care law.
"Mary Landrieu's latest ad is the most disingenuous television ad of the year," said NRSC Press Secretary Brook Hougesen. "Not only did Landrieu support ObamaCare, but three years ago she supported the specific provision responsible for cancelling these policies. How can Louisianians trust anything Mary Landrieu says after she's repeatedly deceived them about ObamaCare for the last four years and continues to do so today? This ad is an insult to the intelligence of every voter in Louisiana."