Ohio Slammer

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That radio ad from Obama for America is a first-rate hammer piece that may hurt John McCain with Ohio voters in November. The ad doesn't tell the whole truth, but selectively uses some facts to make McCain look like a willing tool of international big-business interests first, and an ally of the Ohio job market second (if not third or fourth).

The ad explains the role that McCain and his campaign manager (and former lobbyist) Rick Davis had five years ago in helping freight-carrier DHL and its German owner, Deutsche Post World Net, acquire a airport-based operation out of Wilmington, Ohio.

Now, however, DHL is looking to cut financial losses by sending its packages aboard United Parcel Service planes -- yes, a DHL rival -- before delivering them in DHL trucks. UPS flies out of Louisville, Kentucky, so the proposed change would render the Wilmington airport unnecessary, and something close to 8000 Ohio jobs will be lost as a result.

Thing is, when McCain and Davis helped DHL back in '03, the move resulted in job expansion, not losses. An 8.6 Cleveland Plain Dealer story by Stephen Koff states that "several Wilmington civic leaders said that what happened in 2003 created an economic gain for their community, lasting several years."

The Obama ad doesn't lie, but it does narrow its focus -- honestly, factually -- on what happened in order to create a negative impression of McCain.