• Associated Press via Boston Globe, Wednesday, April 30, 2008 10 AM

While Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have been dominating the political advertising scene for months, partisan groups and political parties are pushing their way onto the airwaves with negative ads that can add an even harder edge to an already rough-and-tumble campaign.

For instance, in Louisiana, Mississippi and Indiana, ads on behalf of Republican congressional candidates attempt to label Obama as too liberal while the Democratic National Committee portrays Republican John McCain as offering little more than a continuation of the wildly unpopular George W. Bush. In the Hoosier State, with a key primary on May 6, a group largely financed by the Clinton-backing American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is running an ad critical of Obama's economic plan.

And while two Democrats and their surrogates go after each other, the Democratic Party and allied groups are trying to ensure that McCain does not escape scrutiny. "Seems like the three-dimensional campaign has started -- primary in some places, general in others and a little of both in a few more places," says Evan Tracey, a political ad analyst.

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