* Republican State Sen. Kirk Dillard was asked recently if he regrets appearing in a TV ad for Barack Obama [link is now fixed]…
“Not really, I mean he was a friend, I’m proud of what we did together. He clearly knew going in that I was for John McCain, although that was eighteen-nineteen months ago. You know my guess is he thought John McCain was probably not going to be our nominee. But, I have been a McCain supporter for many years and you know, Barack knew it. I limited what I said to just that [Obama] did work with Republicans in Springfield and nothing else.”
* And, apparently, there is an agreement not to run that ad in the fall if Obama gets the Democratic nomination…
“I have spoken to his staff and said if Barack is the nominee, and it is still not settled as we sit here [April 27], but when it is a head on head race, pull the ad.”
* Asked if he believes that the Obama campaign will honor the agreement, Dillard replies…
“I would hope they honor that because I think Senator McCain will come back…I think the McCain campaign will say look, somebody who knows Senator Obama is for me, John McCain, and many of the reasons that I am for John McCain, Jeff, are the reasons that I actually struck a friendship with Barack: John McCain works well with both political parties; John McCain has worked on ethics reforms at the national level. But, the difference is John McCain has national foreign policy experience and I most importantly believe that America needs a check and balance, whether it is Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee or John McCain, the Republicans are a good balance and we need a check and balance on [Speaker] Nancy Pelosi and a Democrat Congress, so there are many reasons why I am for John McCain.”
* Here’s the script from the Obama TV ad that first aired in Iowa last year. It’s called “Carry“…
Script for “Carry” (30 seconds):
Obama: I’m Barack Obama, and I approve this message.
Obama (from the 2004 Democratic National Convention): There is not a liberal America and a conservative America — there is the United States of America.
Kirk Dillard (Republican Illinois State Senator): Senator Obama worked on some of the deepest issues we had and was successful in a bipartisan way…
Larry Walsh (Democratic Illinois State Senator): The legislation that he carried, he believed in. He was not carrying it for a group. He was not carrying for a lobbyist.
Kirk Dillard: Republicans legislators respected Senator Obama. His negotiation skills and an ability to understand both sides would serve the country very well.
* And here’s the ad, which has been used many times and in many states since Iowa…
* Dillard’s enthusiasm for Obama wasn’t confined to appearing in TV ads. He also did at least one campaign conference call for Obama back in Iowa…
On an afternoon conference call, Republican Illinois State Senator Kirk Dillard, who is featured in the ad titled “Carry”, talked about personally working with Obama and seeing firsthand his ability to bring people together to accomplish important goals.
“Senator Obama and I spent hundreds of hours working on issues together in a bipartisan fashion,” said State Senator Kirk Dillard. “I’ve seen firsthand that Senator Obama can take tough problems, reconcile parties and races and explain difficult topics to everyday people. We worked as a tag-team on many complex issues, and I feel privileged to have worked with Senator Obama in the early part of his career.”
Discuss.