"Samuel “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher is advertising with an attack on his Democratic opponent Marcy Kaptur on WTAM-AM radio in Cleveland.
The new radio spot focuses on a recent vote in Congress to ban sex-selection abortion, ostensibly aimed at ending the practice of mothers aborting girls out of a preference for boy babies, but widely suspected by Democrats as an election-year ploy by Republicans to embarrass them.
U.S. Representative Kaptur (D., Toledo) voted against the measure, which fell short of a majority in the House.
Joe plumber radio spot w music
In the radio ad, Wurzelbacher throws back at his Democratic opponent a label Democrats have pinned on Republicans.
"Aborting baby girls Marcy? Now that is a war on women," an incredulous-sounding Wurzelbacher says. He tells listeners he's been endorsed by National Right to Life Committee.
The spot touts the conclusions of a factchecking organization, PolitiFact, which confirmed that Kaptur did indeed vote against the bill.
The bill, called the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act of 2012, would have made it a federal crime with a five-year prison sentence to perform or force a woman to undergo a gender-selection abortion.
Opponents said the bill was designed for political posturing, and raised privacy concerns and also raised the possibility that medical personnel would refrain from doing sonograms to avoid identifying the fetus’s gender, a safety issue for mothers.
Supporters said there is a documented trend of baby girls being aborted out of preference for boys.
Though she's aware that sex-selection abortion is practice in China, Kaptur said the issue was sprung on members of Congress.
"In our country this concern has never been raised by any credible person that I have represented in the hospitals, nursing communities or health care community. I just think the Hyde language is sufficient," she said, referring to the Hyde Amendment that prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for abortion.
The bill was defeated May 31 when supporters could not raise the two-thirds vote needed to pass a procedural vote to end debate.
The spot ends with Mr. Wurzelbacher asking listeners to contribute to his campaign.
The 9th Congressional District stretches from Toledo to Cleveland, and some have speculated that the eastern end of the district will be where Mr. Wurzelbacher has his best chance of undermining the 15-term incumbent.
Miss Kaptur is a brand-new incumbent in some areas of the new district, such as the city of Lorain, West Cleveland, and western Cuyahoga County. In the March primary, Miss Kaptur received far fewer votes in Cuyahoga County than her Democratic opponent, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D., Cleveland) whose old district includes west Cuyahoga County (23,382 to 7,763).
In the Republican primary, Mr. Wurzelbacher got 6,039 in Cuyahoga County, narrowly edging his opponent, Steve Kraus with 5,777.
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