MADISON, Wis. -- Democrats are launching a new set of anti-President George W. Bush ads in Madison.

The first television ad centers on a comment by the president in his State of the Union speech and accuses Bush of misleading Americans about the threat from Iraq.

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Is Bush Ad Misleading?

The ad quotes Bush saying, "Saddam Hussain recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

The Democratic National Committee is pinning its attack on that comment, saying it was a lie to the American public.

Republicans are calling the spots deliberately false and misleading.

The advertisement started airing Monday on several Madison stations, including WISC-TV.

A University of Wisconsin political science professor who studies and tracks political ads says this one is hard-hitting, aggressive and risky.

"This is very risky, very risky," said professor Ken Goldstein.

Of the thousands of political ad Goldstenin has seen, he thinks this one plays with fire because it attacks the president on the issue of intelligence, an issue still developing with Americans.

"This is a message that they are testing, and it wouldn't surprise me if they're testing it locally with focus groups and survey research," he said.

Goldstein said the ad is very close to misleading.

"It's right at that line," he said.

The ad says: "Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

But before Bush makes that comment -- before he says "Saddam Hussein," he said, "British intelligence has learned Saddam Hussein … "

Republicans say the ad doesn't attribute the information.

"What the president said is that the British government has learned … that the Iraqis were seeking uranium from Africa," said Ed Gillespie, incoming chairman for the Republican National Committee. "The British government continues to say that that is the case."

Democratic National Committee officials said the ad is not misleading.

"It is not misleading," said Terry McCauliffe, DNC chairman. "We are using George Bush's own words ... the point is forget about what British intelligence says. Our U.S. intelligence told the White House it was incorrect."

For now, Madisonians will decide who's right and if this issue and this ad will be taken across the country.

McCauliffe told News 3 Madison is targeted because Wisconsin is a key battleground state.

He said he will make a decision next week whether the ad should be shown in other markets.

Gillespie told News 3 this is basically a video fund-raising appeal, a way for Democrats to get money.

The RNC sent a letter to Madison TV stations, including WISC-TV, saying the stations should refuse to run the ad. The letter said, "The DNC has no right to willfully spread false information in a deliberate attempt to mislead the American people.

"The advertisement is false and misleading therefore, you are obligated to refrain from airing this advertisement."

WISC-TV Station Manager Tom Bier said, "Issue-advertising is something that is basically speech, and we believe that one of the reasons people come to our media is to get to the people and get to the people with a point of view."

Bier said this is one side of an issue. If another side wants to run an ad defending the speech, it has that right.

Reaction Ranges From Delight To Outrage

News 3 talked with a military family and peace activists about the message behind the ad.

Dave Weinberger's son came home from Iraq in June, but the yellow ribbons aren't coming down until all of the soldiers return from a mission this dad considers unavoidable.

"Eventually, we would have to take this guy and remove him someday, eventually, so it's better to do it now than to give him a more stronger chance than he already has," Weinberger said. who is he talking about?

To this proud father, advertisements that zero in on the accuracy of claims like this one feel like a personal attack.

"The fact that there are still troops over there, I think that we should still stand behind them until this thing is over with, and then let the critics have their say then," Weinberger said.

But peace activists think that logic is full of holes.

"There are many reasons to wonder why Bush used this information, when there's good evidence that he knew full well that he knew that it was not accurate," said Alfred Meyer, chairman of Wisconsin Network of Peace and Justice.

Activist Bonnie Block said, "I admire the bravery and the courage of our military people, and I think the best way to support them is to bring them home, is not to ask them to fight in a war of occupation, in a war that's illegal, and a war that was unnecessary."

While activists welcome any dialogue the ad may bring, no commercial will sway Weinberger's view of the war in Iraq or the man who authorized it.

"I stand 100 percent behind him," he said.

Peace activists said they aren't sure how effective the ad will be, when it comes to getting the public to focus on the accuracy of the president's statements, but they're hoping to eventually see an independent, bi-partisan investigation of how intelligence was handled by the White House.

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