TITLE: "Don't Know Much."
LENGTH: 30 seconds
AIRING: National cable and battleground states (campaign won't divulge which states, however)
SCRIPT: Barack Obama: "I'm Barack Obama and I approved this message."
Singer: (To the tune of Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World (Don't Know Much)")
I'm not up on the economy
Don't know much about industry.
Really can't explain the price of gas,
Or what has happened to the middle class.
But I know that one and one is two.
And if I could be just like you
What a wonderful world this would be.
Announcer: Do we really want four more years of the same old tune?
ANALYSIS: Obama injects humor into his recurrent theme that McCain is out of touch on economic issues. With the economy still the top issue with American voters, the Obama camp remains convinced that job anxieties, high gas prices and home foreclosures are McCain's top vulnerabilities. But they believe his key weakness is his link to the unpopular Bush. Expect to see photographs of McCain and Bush consistently for the next 71 days.
The Democratic National Committee emphasized the Bush-McCain connection in a Web ad it posted Monday, using McCain's own words to stress his support for Bush's policies.
The ad is airing on national cable, but the campaign wouldn't reveal in which states it planned to air the spots. The campaign has pulled ads in several states that have in the past voted Republican and where McCain was not airing commercials. It has said it planned to return to the air in those states, but for the length of the convention would purchase air time only in states where McCain was running ads critical of Obama.
"It's particularly revealing that the Obama campaign feels forced to cast flimsy attack ads during his own convention. Barack Obama's politics of hope is waning," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds.
The ad superimposes a quote that McCain made to reporters last December: "Economics is not something I've understood as well as I should." At a Concord, N.H., town hall session in January, McCain also said: "I am not an expert on Wall Street. I am not an expert on some of this stuff."
The ad states McCain voted with Bush "90 percent of the time." McCain did vote with Bush 90 percent of the time from the day Bush took office in 2001 to when Congress left for its August 2008 recess, according to a study by Congressional Quarterly. But McCain wasn't always a staunch Bush backer. In 2005, his support for Bush's position on legislation was a low of 77 percent; in 2007 when he launched his latest bid for the GOP nomination, he voted with the president 95 percent of the time.
KEY IMAGES: A still photograph of Obama as he utters the standard disclaimer. Split screen of McCain on left half of screen with right side containing text: "Economics is not something I've understood as well as I should" - John McCain, December, 2007. McCain's image fades as a picture of a gas pump appears then is replaced by a still picture of a foreclosure sign. The split screen image gives way to a photo of President Bush and McCain together smiling, then one of Bush and McCain hugging. Superimposed text states: "Voted with Bush 90% of the time." As the announcer intones "Do we really want four more years of the same old tune?" yet another photo of McCain and Bush appears. They are entering the White House, their backs to the camera. The superimposed text states: "We can't afford more of the same."
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Analysis by Associated Press Writer Jim Kuhnhenn