h/t nedrichards

When senators head home for the Fourth of July parades, the fireworks, and the time with "regular folks" around their states, some of them will find some interesting ads running on the radio:

During the Fourth of July congressional recess, a faith-based ad campaign will launch nationally to address the need for health care reform. The campaign includes airing radio ads featuring local pastors June 30 to July 4 in Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Nebraska and North Carolina, as well as meetings with members of Congress and building a grassroots movement to raise awareness of health care issues.

The radio ads will air on Christian and mainstream radio stations featuring pastors from each of the five states. In the ads they ask their senators "to support health care reform that makes quality coverage affordable for every American family," according to the campaign organizers.

The ads are being run by a collection of religious groups including PICO National Network, Faith in Public Life, Faithful America, Sojourners, Gamaliel Foundation, and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.

The thrust of the ads is quite simple (audio at the link):

It’s a vision first proclaimed by Isaiah: No more shall there be an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime.

This is [local pastor's name] from [city/town], and we’ve got work to do. In [state], people are being denied the care they need because of their age or an illness they had years ago. Or they’re getting sick because they can’t afford preventive care.

This is not who we are as a nation. America can do better.

The challenge is great, but God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love. And our love must be a thing of action. This Independence Day, join thousands of people of faith in asking [names of the two Senators from that state] to rise to the challenge by supporting reform that makes quality health care choices affordable for all families.

Please add your voice, and learn more at www.coverallfamilies.org.

What I find intriguing in this is the choice of states. 

Blanche Lincoln. Mary Landrieu. Ben Nelson. Kay Hagen: four senators who often need some encouragement to vote with their party’s leadership. They’re also four senators who might be especially attentive to some religiously-inspired contact from those of their constituents who are religiously-motivated.

And Colorado? This is just a guess on my part, but I’d say that the ads running there are not particularly aimed at getting either Michael Bennet or Mark Udall on board with health care reform. Instead, I think they’re targetting the fundamentalist evangelical community that is centered around Colorado Springs. If you run an ad in Colorado that combines a religious appeal with family rhetoric, it just screams "Focus on the Family." If ads like this can get some in the conservative religious community to back health care reform, they will have accomplished a great deal.

If I’m right in my guess, it’s a very interesting approach. We’ll see if it pays off.

(PICO has a great set of links on the specific stances on health care taken by different faith traditions.)

And if you didn’t see it earlier, check out the Blue America ads targeting Arkansas, written by digby, directed by dday, and produced by Brave New Films.