Candidate: Al Gore

Market: Iowa

Producer: Century Media Group

Time: 30 seconds

Audio: [Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin] The 1993 floods in Iowa were something that we'll tell our grandchildren about. The floods devastated Iowa, and Al Gore came through for us as he's done so many times when I called on him to help Iowa. In fact, Al Gore was the only Democratic candidate for president who helped make sure that Iowa got the help we desperately needed after those floods. ... It's time for us to stand up for Al Gore.

Analysis: This ad, an obvious attempt to portray Gore as a longtime friend of Iowans, doesn't tell the whole story. It neglects to mention that Gore's rival, Bill Bradley, supported the major $4.8 billion disaster relief package for victims of the 1993 midwestern floods; Bradley opposed a Harkin amendment for another $1 billion in funding for farmers. But it's not clear that Gore played any role. Harkin complained the day before the vote that President Clinton had told him "that they have no position on this." Minutes before the vote, the White House budget office produced a letter of support that cleared the way for Senate approval. But the Gore camp does not specify anything the vice president did, and Harkin did not mention Gore in a Des Moines Register interview at the time.