Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), an official candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, released her third ad of the campaign season today. Bachmann’s “Believe It” TV ad will be shown in Iowa as the Minnesota Congresswoman prepares for the Ames Straw Poll in Ames, Iowa on August 13th.
The “Believe It” TV ad is Bachmann’s latest effort to highlight the fact that she voted against raising the debt ceiling. The release of Bachmann’s TV ad comes a day after the Senate voted to pass the Budget Control Act of 2011. The debt ceiling plan passed the House on Monday after many weeks of intense debate between Obama and Congressional leaders.
The current debt ceiling plan calls for a two-step increase in the debt ceiling, $2.4 trillion in cuts or more over the next decade and a special congressional committee to look into additional cuts by November. Over the next several weeks, lawmakers will grapple with the impact of major spending cuts on the defense budget and other significant budgets.
Bachmann has trumpeted her “no” vote on the debt ceiling in the past with numerous statements and TV ads. On July 20th, Bachmann’s campaign team aired a TV ad in Iowa that slammed any proposal to increase the debt ceiling. “I will not vote to increase the debt ceiling,” Bachmann said in the TV ad. In this TV ad, Bachmann also said that a “yes” vote on the debt limit “goes completely contrary to commonsense and how I grew up in Iowa.”
In her latest TV ad, Bachmann referenced the debt ceiling vote when she said, “back in Washington, politicians are looting the treasury and bankrupting our nation.” She added that “Barack Obama has driven our economy into a ditch.” Before the debt ceiling vote, Bachmann blamed Obama for the debt ceiling debacle. “It was you that got us into this mess, and it was you who wanted a $2.4 trillion dollar blank check to get you through the election,” Bachmann argued.
In her “Believe It” TV ad, the Minnesota Congresswoman defended her “no” vote on the debt ceiling. “I voted against raising the debt limit because it’s time to balance the budget and pay down the debt,” Bachmann professed.
At the end of her TV ad, Bachmann encouraged her supporters to show up at the Ames Straw Poll. “Won’t you join me here in Ames for the Straw Poll, and let’s send a message to Washington,” Bachmann said. The Ames Straw Poll is a major indicator of the strength of a candidate’s candidacy before the 2012 Iowa Caucus.
