PRESS RELEASE from Progressive Future

Three Days Before Election, New “American Tune” Ad Launch Focuses on Middle Class America’s Economic Struggles

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 2, 2008
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Brad Martin: 406.750.3457 (cell)
        
Denver, CO –   With just days left before the election, Progressive Future launched on national news outlets an ad focused on the recent economic challenges facing middle America.  The ad weds images of ordinary Americans struggling through troubled times to singer Paul Simon's empathetic lyrics of "American Tune":  "I don't know a soul who's not been battered/I don't have a friend who feels at ease/I don't know a dream that's not been shattered/or driven to its knees."  The ad concludes with an image of Senator McCain, his arm draped around President Bush, as viewers hear the lyrics, "Still, when I think of the road we're traveling on/I can’t help it/I wonder what’s gone wrong."

"This ad zeroes in on the challenges we're facing as a country and the choice we have on Tuesday," said Brad Martin, Progressive Future Political Director.  "From record foreclosures, to high unemployment, to millions without health care, this country needs to move in a different direction."

Martin cited recent statistics that document the economic ordeals highlighted in the ad.  According to RealtyTrac® numbers from October 2008, home foreclosures have increased 21 percent from September 2007; one in every 475 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing in September 2008. The Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment numbers stayed at over six percent, or nearly 10 million, unemployed in September.  The National Coalition on Health Care reports 47 million Americans are without healthcare insurance.  

"This song was written over thirty years ago, when people were hurting because of a different set of problems.  Well, we're hurting again today," added Martin.  "It's time to make a change."

Progressive Future is running the ad on national network programs on CNN and MSNBC this weekend. Viewers can also access the ad at http://www.progressivefuture.org/american-tune

The production is the second pro-Obama ad sponsored by Progressive Future. In the first ad, released on Wednesday, the group makes the case for Obama using footage of Ronald Reagan from his one and only debate against Jimmy Carter, where Reagan asked if Americans were "better off" than they were four years ago.  The ad can be seen at www.betteroff08.com.
 
In addition to sponsoring the "American Tune" and the "Better Off" ads, Progressive Future is conducting a grassroots program to elect Barack Obama.  The group has organized efforts to persuade undecided voters through face-to-face contacts at the door in critical battleground states. In the final 96 hours of the election, the group is mobilizing its members and activists to conduct a get-out-the-vote drive.