More Alito ads target Arkansas senators
Thursday, Jan 26, 2006

By Alison Vekshin
Stephens Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Yet another organization is adding its voice to a growing chorus of interest groups targeting Arkansas senators with advertisements aimed at swaying their vote on Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito.

The Family Research Council, a Christian conservative group, launched a radio ad in Arkansas on Wednesday urging listeners to call Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, both D-Ark., and ask them to support Alito.

The Arkansans are considered key swing voters on the nomination because they are Democrats from a "red state," one that voted for President Bush in 2000 and 2004.

"Unlike most of the other Democrats who have just given a party line vote and already said they are not voting in favor of Alito, we feel like there might be an opportunity to persuade them," said Connie Mackey, the group's vice president of government affairs.

The 60-second spot will run 54 times over three days on 52 Arkansas stations at a cost of $8,000, the group said. The ad mainly underscores popular support for religious expression in public places.

"In spite of courtroom decisions, 76 percent of Americans support the posting of the Ten Commandments on public property, 82 percent believe prayer should be allowed at public school graduations and 90 percent say the phrase "under God" should remain in our pledge of allegiance," a woman's voice states in the ad.

The ads are nothing new for Lincoln and Pryor, who are often targeted when contentious issues arise.

The Committee for Justice, another pro-Alito group, also has sponsored ads in the state seeking to pressure the senators.

Alito opponents are also making themselves heard through ads sponsored by the NAACP, the Sierra Club and Planned Parenthood.

"There's lots of them, both pros and cons," Lincoln said. "I'm using that as part of my information gathering and putting the pieces together."

Pryor said his office "is being phone-banked right now from both sides. I welcome the input and I pay close attention to that."

Pryor's staff has fielded more than 2,000 calls on Alito since senators returned from the winter break last week, spokesman Michael Teague said.

Lincoln took issue with the Familiy Research Council ad, which she said misrepresented her position.

The radio commercial said the Arkansans "are not supporting Alito's nomination." But the senators have not announced how they would vote.

"How can they know?" Lincoln asked. "I haven't come to any conclusion."

Teague said it also incorrectly described Pryor's stance.

"The Christians have a duty to be involved in politics," Teague said. "But they are also held to a higher standard and should conduct themselves in a way that is above board in all ways.

"One of those virtues is the virtue of not misleading people," he said. And, in this ad, they are clearly and intentionally misleading the listeners."

Mackey defended the ad.

"It was written not to mislead, but that they haven't supported him yet and the hope is that they will," she said.

The group is running similar ads targeting Senate Democrats in South Dakota and Louisiana.

Pryor and Lincoln voted to confirm Chief Justice John Roberts last year.

The full Senate began debating the nomination on Wednesday, a day after the Senate Judiciary Committee voted for Alito.

If confirmed, Alito would replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, considered a swing vote on key issues such as abortion.



E-mail: avekshin@stephensmedia.com