A billionaire, a professional sports magnate, a Texas oilman and the founders of Amway are funding the most expensive ad buy of the presidential campaign.
The $14 million ad, which began airing in key markets this month, shows President Bush hugging a teenage girl whose mother died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The ad was paid for by the Progress for America Voter Fund, a 527 group that has run TV ads for Bush and against Sen. John Kerry.
In the latest ad, teenager Ashley Faulkner says of Bush, “All he wants to do is make sure I’m safe,” while her father, Lynn Faulkner, says he saw in Bush “what I want to see in the heart and soul” of a president.