9-15-08, 9:30 am

Without a doubt the McCain campaign has sunk the presidential elections this year to a new low, with misleading ads, mudslinging, and attack ads focused on personalities rather than issues. Americans have heard more about pigs in lipstick than what the candidates will do to fix the economy. And the corporate media has been far too willing to follow its lead.

A new ad campaign launched this week by the Institute for America's Future seeks to reverse that negative trend.

The campaign challenges the candidates and the media to 'give us a debate worthy of a great nation in trouble.' The campaign will call on Americans to demand a political discussion focused on several main points that need immediate attention.

The ads will raise the issues of the economic recession, rising global debt and financial crisis, the failing health care system, collapsing public infrastructure, corporate corruption, and the endless occupation of Iraq.

'These issues are simply too important to be lost in the media frenzy and amid political distractions,' said Robert Borosage, who heads the Institute for America's Future. 'It is time to shelve the gotcha politics and the horse-race journalism of the past. We're urging the candidates to confront the major challenges facing our country and the debates to focus on them.'

The first ad is expected to point to economic and fiscal policies put in place by the Bush administration that are 'hostile to working people.'

While President Bush insists that the 'fundamentals of the economy are strong,' unemployment is rising, poverty is spreading, inflation is growing, and home values are plummeting, the ad will say.

The ad calls for a 'new deal' that ensures working families see the benefits of rising productivity, have guaranteed health care coverage, and get a 'fair share of prosperity.'

The ads will run in the New York Times, and readers will be encouraged to bring them to public forums with candidates, and to take other steps to demand the candidates and the media focus on real issues that impact working families. Learn more at