Obama in TV ad urges Conn. voters to back Murphy

Associated Press

SUSAN HAIGH

Updated: Nov 2, 2012 4:49 PM

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — President Barack Obama is appearing in a new TV ad during the final days of the campaign, urging Connecticut voters to support Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy for the U.S. Senate.

The 30-second commercial was scheduled to begin airing Saturday. A copy was first obtained by The Associated Press on Friday.

A national Democratic Party official confirmed it's the first TV ad where Obama has made a direct appeal on behalf of a Democratic Senate candidate.

Obama looks directly into the camera and says he knows Murphy and credits him with having "a real record of job creation" and "a jobs plan that puts the middle class first." Murphy's Republican opponent, Linda McMahon, has accused Murphy of not having a jobs plan and touted herself as a job-creator, a claim she repeated to a Hartford business group on Friday.

McMahon is the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, now WWE.

Obama also credits Murphy in the ad with supporting women's health issues, saying he will "always stand up to those who want to turn back the clock." Obama said that he knows the "stakes are high" and that he needs Murphy as a partner in the Senate.

"Connecticut, I hope you will support him," Obama tells the viewers.

This is not the first time Obama has played a role in Connecticut's close race to fill the Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent. McMahon recently ran a TV ad featuring voters who said they are supporting both the Republican for Senate and Obama for president. The ad urges people to split their ticket and vote for McMahon on the Independent Party line.

A recent Quinnipiac University Poll, released Oct. 24, showed Obama leads former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate.

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