MoveOn.org Civic Action has released a new TV ad that it says will begin airing in Iowa tomorrow.  The ad, which satirizes opponents of a public health insurance option, is said to be targeted at Iowa because of U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)’s role in the impending health care debate.

The full MoveOn.org press release is copied below.

A new 30 second television ad, running in Iowa, Montana and Washington, DC, uses humor to highlight the importance of including the choice of a public health insurance plan in any health care reform legislation. The ad, by MoveOn.org Civic Action, follows an online town hall meeting on the subject Monday night that over 10,000 people participated in – the highest attendance ever recorded by sister organization Moveon.org Political Action for an issue briefing. The ads will run in the home states of the chair and the ranking Republican of the Senate Finance Committee, as well as in Washington, DC, for one week. The public health insurance option has been vigorously opposed by the insurance industry and their allies in Congress.

Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) has recently shown a willingness to support the public health insurance option, while Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) remains dead set against it, despite the fact that a recent poll showed that 56% of Iowans want a public health insurance option.[1] The Iowa results mirror polls that show most Americans believe the choice of a public health insurance plan is key to solving our health care crisis.

The television ad, set in a funeral home, uses humor and shows two funeral directors discussing how President Obama’s health care reform proposal, with its inclusion of the choice of a public health insurance plan, will lower people’s health care costs and let them live longer, therefore putting the funeral directors out of business.

“While our ad uses humor to elevate the importance of the public health insurance option, the point couldn’t be more serious,” said Justin Ruben, Executive Director of MoveOn. “Senators Baucus and Grassley are at the center of the fight for real health care reform. They have a responsibility to stand with the overwhelming majority of Americans who want the choice of a public health insurance plan – but instead, Senator Grassley and Congressional Republicans have been standing with the insurance companies and special interests.”

The ad campaign follows Monday night’s online town hall meeting on the subject. The town hall was hosted jointly by MoveOn.org Political Action and Democracy for America. The town hall, which over 10,000 people attended, was featured Governor Howard Dean explaining the public health insurance option and taking questions from the on line crowd.

You can hear the town hall at: http://pol.moveon.org/deanforum/recording.html

The ad is viewable online here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms2b57MLqZs