PHforAmerica.com

pHforAmerica.com is a 527 committee for the 2008 campaign, launched by Stephen Marks, a Republican political consultant. Marks is known for launching vicious attack ads against Democratic presidential candidates; he founded Americans Against Hate in 2000 and MoveOnForAmerica.org in 2004.

The pHforAmerica.com website praises the "Swiftboating" of John Kerry in 2004, and states that the group hopes to be the equivalent for Barack Obama in 2008. The group has produced a commercial showing Senator Obama discussing certain Bible passages and their relevance to governance today. The ad narrator characterizes Obama as ridiculing the Bible. The group's website states that it is seeking funds to show the two-minute commercial to a wider audience.

In response, the Obama campaign website "Fight the Smears" called Marks a "scam artist" and said his group's "claims about Barack's faith are every bit as false as his claims that this amateurish video is really a TV ad." The campaign claims the length (2:09) of the ad and its poor video quality call into question Marks' intentions to run the ad on television. On the substance of the ad, the Obama website states, "The video takes 5 sentences out of a 4,500-word speech Barack gave in 2006 completely out of context to stoke division and hatred."

According to The Stiletto blog, Marks countered that "pH for America has taken the YouTube version of the ad and re-cut it into 1-minute and 2-minute spots that will air 42 times during the first week of October. The ads are supposed to start running today [October 1, 2008] in three PA cities (Pittsburgh, Altoona/Johnstown and Erie) and two MI cities (Lansing and Flint)." Marks further threatened legal action, stating, "How can the Obama campaign call me a 'scam artist' ... when they know full well that I have produced and aired 527 TV ads in the past two presidential campaigns? Unless they can prove anything about this ad is a scam, they are guilty of libel, and I am pursuing legal action regarding this matter."

Contact information
Website: pHforAmerica.com

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Americans Against Hate (Stephen Marks)
 * MoveOnForAmerica.org
 * Stephen Marks