Online gambling

What do Paris Hilton and Britney Spears have in common with John McCain? According to a new ad  from a campaign finance advocacy group, it's their fondness for gambling. Campaign Money Watch takes it one step further, however, contending that the Republican nominee is not only "betting at casinos," he's also "gambling with their lobbyists."

 

The ad claims that gaming interests have contributed more than $1 million to McCain and the Arizona senator has become "gambling's go-to guy." The spot concludes by urging McCain to "walk away from special interests' money" and support the Fair Elections Now Act. The bill's Senate co-sponsors in 2007 included Barack Obama and Wisconsin Democrat Russell Feingold, who also co-sponsored McCain's own campaign finance reform legislation [PDF].

 

David Donnelly, executive director of Campaign Money Watch, said that Obama's withdrawal from the public finance system for the election only reiterates the notion that the current system is broken, and that new legislation, such as the Fair Elections Now Act, is a step toward fixing it. "We’re not going to hold a Republican or Democrat accountable for opting in or opting out of the system," he said. Instead, he said, the "barometer of where a candidate stands on public finance" should be whether they support this kind of reform.

 

Donnelly says the references to Spears and Hilton and the scrutiny of McCain's links to lobbyists are meant to be emblematic of the issues that have come up in the election. The group previously attacked McCain in June with an ad that questioned his involvement, by way of lobbyist connections, in an Air Force contract that went to Airbus, a French company, instead of the American company Boeing.