With so many Democratic incumbents around the country endangered this year, U.S. Senate candidate Roxanne Conlin hasn’t received much campaign assistance from Democratic organizations outside Iowa or their allies. That changed this week when the advocacy groups Democracy for America and Progressive Campaign Change Committee started running a 60-second television commercial targeting Republican Senator Chuck Grassley.

Unfortunately, the ad fails to make a persuasive case against sending Grassley back to Washington.

Follow me after the jump to watch the new commercial, along with more Grassley and Conlin campaign ads.

My transcript:

Kevin Shilling of Greenfield, Iowa: I voted for Reagan, Nixon, George W. Bush, and Senator Charles Grassley too. But after 50 years in politics, Senator Grassley’s ideas are old. [photos of a younger Grassley in Washington]

Shilling back on camera: And many of the things he says are just an embarrassment to Iowa.

Clips of Grassley: [from tv interviews] “I’ve lived off of the tit all these years”

“Sucking the tit of the taxpayer”

[In response to town-hall audience member who asks why he can’t have the same health care Grassley has] “You can. Go work for the federal government.”

[speaking to different audience] “They’re gonna pull the plug on Grandma.”

[speaking on Senate floor] “The Senate is constipated […] and the Senate needs to function just like our intestinal system.”

[exchange with a colleague during Senate hearings] Byron Dorgan: “Oh you are good.” Grassley: “Your wife said the same thing.”

[from a different Senate hearing, I think it was one of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings] “People always say I have the ability to turn people on.”

Shilling back on camera, now driving his truck: It’s time for someone new. This time I’m voting for Roxanne Conlin.

She’s spent her career fighting for regular working people against big corporations. [photo of Roxanne, words on screen “Roxanne Conlin FOR regular working people AGAINST big corporations”]

Shilling back on camera: Especially in these economic times, Roxanne Conlin will fight for us and make Iowa proud.

Female voice-over: The Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America are responsible for the content of this advertising. [words on screen: HELP KEEP THIS AD ON TV EnoughGrassley.com ]

Stop the presses, Grassley makes earthy jokes and uses the word “tit” in public! How embarrassing. We must not send him back to Washington!

Seriously, this is the best they could do? As a longtime Democracy for America member, I am disappointed. They might as well act shocked by the spelling and grammatical errors in Grassley’s entertaining tweets.

It’s great to feature an Iowan who used to vote for Grassley and is now backing Conlin. But let Shilling voice some real problems with Grassley’s record. This stuff is just playing into his shtick about how working in Washington hasn’t changed the Iowa farm boy.

Grassley’s approval ratings dropped noticeably in Iowa during last year’s health care reform debate. The best narrative against Grassley would build on that by demonstrating how he wasn’t straight with people and wasn’t representing the public interest during that time. For instance:

Grassley pretended to be part of a bipartisan group working on a health reform compromise, while simultaneously pledging to block “Obamacare” in his fundraising materials. Not acting in good faith.

As recently as June 2009, Grassley shared the bipartisan consensus supporting an individual mandate to purchase health insurance. A few months later, facing chatter about a Republican primary challenge, Grassley suddenly decided that provision was unconstitutional. Not acting in good faith.

In August 2009, Grassley pushed the line about how end-of-life counseling would lead to “pulling the plug on Grandma.” It was a dishonest talking point, and Grassley failed to own up to his vote in favor of end-of-life counseling in a 2003 bill. Grassley also suggested that older cancer patients like Ted Kennedy wouldn’t be treated under “Obamacare.”

Grassley tried to amend the health care reform bill to “eliminate $7 billion a year in fees that the government would charge private health insurance companies, and make up the shortfall by reducing benefits to poor people and legal immigrants.” Who was he representing?

Aside from health care reform, Grassley’s voting record contains many examples of supporting big corporations rather than the public interest. The ad producers should have let Shilling talk about those. Instead, we are supposed to believe a farmer from Greenfield is embarrassed that Grassley says “tit.”

For now, this commercial is running on broadcast and cable networks in the Des Moines market through October 25. Depending on the success of DFA and PCCC’s fundraising drive, it may stay on the air longer.

Conlin’s current tv ad features her work on a case for one Iowa family, and as I discussed here, I like it a lot. Her previous ad, a negative spot about Grassley, was less successful in my opinion. This was running a few weeks ago:

My transcript:

Male voice-over: Made in the USA. It means something here. [footage from factory floor] But jobs like these are disappearing, and Chuck Grassley’s put corporate interests ahead of Iowans. Voting for NAFTA. [words on screen: SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY VOTED FOR NAFTA]

Voting five times for tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. [words on screen: SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY VOTED 5 TIMES FOR SHIPPING JOBS OVERSEAS]

After 35 years in Washington, Chuck Grassley’s forgotten who he works for. [picture of Grassley and the Capitol, words on screen: SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY FORGOT WHO HE WORKS FOR]

Conlin, speaking to camera: I’m Roxanne Conlin, and I approved this message because we need to grow jobs here and stop rewarding companies that send them overseas. [words on screen: www.RoxanneforIowa.com, ROXANNE CONLIN U.S. SENATE] Washington’s broken, and I’m fighting to fix it.

I am not convinced trade and NAFTA are salient issues right now. How about Grassley voting against extending unemployment benefits during the worst recession in 60 years, funding that supported Iowa schools and health care for the growing numbers of people on Medicaid? There are many examples of Grassley supporting tax cuts for wealthy interests too.

Conlin has brought up some of those points, as well as “pull the plug on grandma,” in her stump speech, but most Iowa voters haven’t seen her stump speech. The only message they are getting about the Senate race is on television.

Grassley’s latest commercials ignore his critics. Here’s one on whistleblower protections:

My transcript:

Female voice-over: They used to live in shadows. Employees of government contractors seeing wrong, but afraid to say a word. [black and white footage of different people, meant to look like worried whistleblowers]

Until our Senator Chuck Grassley made it ok to blow the whistle. [footage of Grassley in suit and tie, walking confidently, sound of train whistle in background]

He updated a law that empowered whistleblowers to come forward. [now various people are in color, look happy and smiling, presumably not afraid to come forward]

22 billion dollars in fraudulent payments have been recovered. [words on screen: $22 BILLION RECOVERED for taxpayers]

Grassley works…

Unidentified man: for us.

Grassley: I’m Chuck Grassley, and I approved this message.  

Here’s the other current Grassley ad, called “Bananas”:

Grassley: I’m Chuck Grassley, and I approved this message.

Female voice-over: Washington is adding four billion dollars a day to the national debt. [black and white footage of national debt clock] It’s a mortgage on our children’s future. [black and white footage of adorable toddler]

Grassley speaking to camera [rest of commercial shot in color]: Washington’s gone bananas. It’s time right now to stop the crazy spending before it’s too late.

Voice-over: Iowa’s Chuck Grassley is a voice of reason. Grassley works…

Unidentified boy: for us.

Grassley: I sure would appreciate your vote.

Grassley is a hypocrite when it comes to deficit spending. He signed so many blank checks for war and tax cuts for the wealthy. He helped draft the Medicare prescription drug bill that wasn’t paid for. But now that we have a Democratic president and Congress, he thinks we can’t afford to stop teacher layoffs or help the long-term unemployed.

Even so, I have to admit this is an effective ad, as is the whistleblower spot. In fact, Grassley’s commercials are by a mile better than anything any other Iowa candidate is running this year. They may be misleading and deceptive and sometimes corny, but they build a coherent narrative about Grassley working for his constituents. Too bad the commercials challenging that narrative aren’t up to the same standard.

UPDATE: WHO-TV, the NBC affiliate in Des Moines, is refusing to air the PCCC and DFA ad, on the grounds that it is “misleading” and takes Grassley out of context. The ad’s creators provided citations supporting each of the quotes used in the ad. WHO’s position is weak, considering that it is running other ads containing claims that have been debunked (e.g. the Chamber of Commerce’s ad accusing Leonard Boswell of voting to “gut” Medicare for Iowa seniors). The conflict doesn’t change my opinion that this ad is ineffective.