AD WATCH

This 30-second ad, the second of the U.S. Senate campaign between incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer and Republican Bill Jones, began airing Tuesday on television stations in California’s top five markets: Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento and Fresno.

Title: “Bureaucrats”

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Image: Boxer in a home setting, a backyard visible through the door behind her.

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Script: “HMO bureaucrats are overruling the doctors. It takes you months to get an appointment. And dealing with insurance companies can be a nightmare. It’s time for a real Patients’ Bill of Rights so that healthcare decisions are made by our doctors, not bureaucrats. Let’s make health insurance tax-deductible and get seniors real help with their drug costs. To me, it’s basic. People ought to be able to get good healthcare without going bankrupt.”

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Image: Boxer seated with children on outside steps.

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Script: “I’m Barbara Boxer, and I approved this message.”

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Analysis: Like her first ad, “Bureaucrats” seeks to identify Boxer with a key domestic issue: healthcare. And like her first ad, it offers Jones, who has yet to air any television ads, little on which to hang a response. Boxer’s call for a Patients’ Bill of Rights echoes a stance by the Kerry-Edwards Democratic presidential ticket. She offers no estimate of the effect on federal tax revenue from making health insurance premiums tax-deductible.

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Source: Los Angeles Times