Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Anti-NRA ad tries to nudge Portman

Michael E. Keating

A liberal group, Moveon.org, is running a cable TV ad in Ohio critical of the National Rifle Association (NRA) - one that is clearly aimed at putting pressure on Ohio's junior senator, Republican Rob Portman, according to the Huffington Post.  

The ad features an Ohio resident, Jerry Thompson  - a gun owner and Moveon.org member - saying that after the NRA's "disgusting response" to the the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, "I've had enough."

"The NRA doesn't speak for me; and it doesn't speak for the vast majority of Americans,'' Thompson said. "So stop taking their money."

Portman, a gun owner and hunter, has an "A" rating from the NRA; and the NRA spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to help get him elected to the Senate in 2010.

But, after the Sandy Hook massacre, Portman was one of a handful of Republican legislators who said he would consider all options  - including a  ban on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, along with putting armed guards in schools.

With the ad - one of series Moveon.org will run in targeted states - the group is hoping to push Portman to consider backing the gun control legislation currently in the Senate.

You can watch the ad and read the Huffington Post story here.

Howard Wilkinson is in his 50th year of covering politics on the local, state and national levels.