MNN - Mother Nature Network

 

It’s not the Lyndon Johnson “Daisy Commercial,” but a recent political ad by the Environmental Defense Fund has a powerful message for Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.).

 

The commercial, which can be viewed at the bottom of this post, is  30 seconds long and shows a young girl in a hospital bed with a ventilation system. A woman's voiceover explains that 50,000 lives are cut short every year in the United States by air pollution. Then the voice asks, “Why is Sen. Kit Bond trying to undermine America’s clean air rules?”

 

In September, Bond tried to attach an amendment to the defense appropriations bill that would have tied the hands of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in regulating greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Perhaps the most interesting part of this commercial is the fact that Bond is retiring from the U.S. Senate. The Missouri senator decided not to run for reelection more than a year ago. Still, Politico reported that the advertisement is a bit of a “warning shot” from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). “While Sen. Bond is retiring, we intend this ad to be a message to any member of Congress, Democrat or Republican, who might consider following his lead in the weeks and months ahead,” said Tony Kreindler of the EDF.

 

While Bond isn’t on the ballot, those battling to replace him are in a statistical dead heat. Democratic candidate and current Missouri Secretary of State, Robin Carnahan, seems to have cut into Republican Rep. Roy Blunt’s lead, according to a recent poll from Public Policy Polling.

 

Missouri is one of the few states in which Democrats seem to have a shot of picking up a seat in the U.S. Senate, but it will be tough. In 2008, John McCain won the state in the presidential election despite heavy attention from Barack Obama. If “Show Me State” voters see Blunt as a continuation of Bond’s policies, then the EDF’s attack ad could be as much an anti-Blunt commercial as it is an anti-Bond one.