Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) is continuing his ruthless ad campaign against “gutless politicians,” with a new, incendiary anti-illegal immigration television spot.

Displaying graphic images of victims of gang violence, the narrator states, “Mothers killed. Children executed. The tactics of vicious Central American gangs, now on U.S. soil. Pushing drugs. Raping kids. Destroying lives. Thanks to gutless politicians who refuse to defend our borders.” The ad began running in Iowa Monday, and it may also air in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Following up on his first ad portraying a terrorist illegally entering the U.S. before detonating a bomb, Tancredo says this spot also intends to focus on the “tragic consequences of open borders and massive uncontrolled immigration.” Tancredo has made ending illegal immigration the primary issue of his run for the White House.

Despite the fact that all of the Republican front-runners have all been running to the right in vowing to end illegal immigration–an important issue for GOP primary voters–Tancredo remains in single digits in the polls and has had trouble resonating with voters. These two ads are trying to ratchet up the message: Scare ‘em into voting for you.

An Edwards operative I spoke to in the hotel bar last night wondered aloud when the negative ads from outside groups would start dropping in Iowa. Well, we have our answer. The first independent attack ad of the cycle is out, and it goes after Hillary Clinton — not from her right, but from her left.

A liberal group called Democratic Courage is behind the spot, which blasts Hillary for backing down in the face of Republican pressure — specifically over her comments that she liked the idea of a $5,000 “baby bond” for every child born in America. The ad, which is set to run in Iowa but is suspiciously absent from the IA airwaves, features a life-size cardboard cut-out of the Senator that gets blown over, presumably by the metaphorical winds of GOP criticism.

(UPDATE: the Clinton campaign points out that, as of now, Democratic Courage hasn’t spent a dime to put this ad on TV in Iowa, DC, or anywhere else. It’s a fairly common trick these days to release a web ad without buying any air time, then using the free media buzz to raise money to actually put the ad on TV. As of right now, no Iowans are actually seeing this attack).

The ad comes as Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle sent an email to supporters in the early states complaining that dirty tricks like push-polling and misinformation have already begun — so won’t you send us money to help fight them? All the accounts of the attacks are anecdotal, but Obama’s name is mentioned twice in the fundraising appeal.

Watch the DCourage ad here, and read the email after the jump.

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Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle has written a letter to her counterpart at the Obama campaign, asking the Illinois Senator to stop running what she calls a “false ad” in NH that claims his health care plan would cover everyone.

Solis Doyle writes, “Your advertisement not only contradicts the judgment of health care experts, but public statements by your campaign and your candidate,” adding, “Senator Obama has pledged to put “honesty first” in this campaign. In that spirit I respectfully request that you stop running this ad which is misleading voters in New Hampshire. “

Clinton’s camp often cites experts who say Obama’s plan would leave out 15 million people out of the 47 million who are currently uninsured, and notes that even Obama himself has called the plan “virtually universal.” Solis Doyle says “It’s not enough for Senator Obama to say he covers everyone, especially when that is inaccurate. The American people need a President who will take the action necessary and fight for health care for every single man woman and child.”

Watch the ad for yourself here:

The Obama campaign says Hillary is playing politics, pointing out that the ad in question is old news. “The Clinton campaign didn’t say a word when this ad was released a month ago,” Obama’s New Hampshire press secretary tells Fox News’ Obama producer Bonney Kapp. “The only thing that’s changed since then is the poll numbers.”

“The truth is, Barack Obama’s universal plan will provide coverage to every single American who can’t afford it and do more to cut the cost of health care than any other plan in this race. Rather than spending their time attacking Barack Obama, the Clinton campaign should explain how exactly they plan to force every American to buy health insurance even if they can’t afford it.”

Clinton’s policy director took steps to address that question today, saying Hillary’s plan aggressively cuts costs, and would cap the percentage of income every American would pay in health care premiums — something no other Democrat would do. She also said she’d use “default enrollment” to sign up every uninsured American for health care, getting them into one of many coverage options when they come into contact with the health care system, go to school, or get a job. But Clinton still hasn’t said how she’ll penalize people who still don’t enroll, saying only that she’ll work with Congress on the issue.

UPDATE: Obama’s national spokesman just put out a statement that’s word-for-word the same as the New Hampshire statement, but does NOT call the plan “universal.” instead, Bill Burton writes Obama “would offer health coverage to every single American,” rather than saying his universal plan will provide coverage to every single American.”

Rudy Giuliani’s latest TV ad is a twofer for the Republican front-runner—touting his New York City mayoral successes as well as taking a shot at Democrats.

Set to air in the Boston and New Hampshire television markets–his fourth ad targeting the Granite State in as many weeks–argues that Democrats will “raise taxes even more than they promise.”

While his first three ads have solely focused on his biography and how he tamed New York City, he goes on the offense in the latest spot—borrowing a few lines from his campaign stump speech.

He says, “I know that reducing taxes produces more revenues. Democrats don’t know that. They don’t believe it. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, here’s a promise I assure you they’ll keep. They are making the promise to raise taxes. The only thing I can tell you in addition to that is they’ll raise taxes even more than they promise.”

The fear of increased taxes and perceived Democratic fiscal irresponsibility play an important part in Giuliani’s campaign rhetoric. But a quick fact check: While the three leading Democratic contenders have all said they would let parts of the Bush tax cuts expire for Americans in the richest tax bracket (a defacto increase for some Americans), Giuliani is definitely stretching it a bit here by arguing that they will increase taxes above promised rates. The truth is, is who knows? They could also increase taxes less than they promise.

She’s started being more aggressive against her rival Democrats, but Hillary Clinton takes a turn back toward the general election fight in a new campaign ad airing in New Hampshire. In the :30 spot, she goes after the Republican candidates who have already started attacking her — showing clips of anti-Clinton ads from John McCain and Mitt Romney with an announcer saying “Here they go again – the same old Republican attack machine is back.”

“Maybe it’s because they know that there’s one candidate with the strength and experience to get us out of Iraq, one candidate who will end tax giveaways for the big corporations, one candidate committed to cutting the huge Republican deficit and one candidate who will put government back to work for the middle class.”

Of course, the Machine itself disagrees with that line of reasoning. RNC Spokesman Danny Diaz says, “Senator Clinton has spent her entire career blaming her problems on her political opponents. The only things that are the ’same’ and ‘old’ are Hillary Clinton’s excuses.”

And Romney spokesman Kevin Madden says, “Governor Romney also has a record of, and reputation for, actually getting things done. Senator Clinton has a reputation for one thing: partisanship. Extreme partisanship.”

Rudy Giuliani is launching his second television ad in New Hampshire touting his experience in as many weeks.

The ad, titled “Leadership,” again showcases the former New York City Mayor’s experience at the city and federal levels and argues that even though he is not perfect, he is the best qualified for the job.

“I’ve been tested in a way in which the American people can look to me. They’re not going to find perfection, but they’re going to find somebody who has dealt with crisis almost on a regular basis and has had results,” he says.

The ad is very similar to the ad he launched last week in the Granite State, “Tested,” which was his first television ad of the cycle.

Council Bluffs, IA — Rudy Giuliani is launching his TV ad in New Hampshire this week, with a spot depicting how he revitalized and cleaned up New York City– a case he has been making on the trail for months.

The campaign sought to avoid the airwaves for as long as possible in order to see how far his name recognition took him and more importantly, to keep as much dough in the bank for as long as possible since he is facing off against multi-millionaire Mitt Romney–who has already spent $17 million of his treasure chest and could potentially tap even more of his personal wealth. Additionally, though he has remained competitive in recent polls, he is trailingthe former Massachusetts Governor in New Hampshire by 12 points in the latest Boston Globe poll.

The Giuliani strategy is centered around competing and doing well in the early states, but the campaign is following what they refer to as a “long-term strategy” focused on Florida and the February 5 states for an eventual victory–since nearly all of the delegates necessary to win the nomination will be handed out that day. It should be noted that the campaign has already spent a couple million dollars in New Hampshire on radio advertising and direct mailings touting his mayoral record.

The former NYC mayor narrates the 60-second ad, which exemplifies his optimistic message about American potential, by talking about how the transition he helped lead his city through.

“They used to call it unmanageable, ungovernable…a city that was in very, very difficult condition when I became the Mayor,” he says as black and white images of 80s-era NYC are flashed on the screen. “By the time I left office, New York City was being proclaimed as the best example of conservative government in the country. We turned it into the safest large city in America. The welfare to work capital of America. And most importantly, the spirit of the people of the city had changed. Instead of being hopeless, the large majority of people had hope.”

Giuliani also takes the moment to reinforce his message that he is not a perfect candidate, but has the best experience among the GOPers in the field.

“I believe I’ve been tested in a way in which the American people can look to me. They’re not going to find perfection, but they’re going to find somebody who has dealt with crisis almost on a regular basis and has had results,” he concludes.

Failing to make much of an impact thus far in the 2008 GOP race, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) is dialing up his anti-illegal immigration message with an explosive (literally) new ad depicting a terrorist attack on a shopping mall.

The voice-over track: “There are consequences to open borders beyond the 20 million aliens who have come to take our jobs. Islamic terrorists now freely roam U.S. soil–Jihadists who froth with hate here to do as they have in London, Spain, Russia.”

Following images from recent terrorist attacks, viewers can watch as a man with a hooded sweatshirt leaves a bomb-filled backpack near a bench at a generic shopping mall.

The narrator then warns, “The price we pay for spineless politicians who refuse to defend our borders against those who come to kill.”

The ad concludes with the sound of an explosion and a fade to black screen with the text, “Tancredo…before it’s too late.”

Watch it here:

Of course, this is not the first time a candidate has tried to use the prospect of an imminent attack into frighten voters into casting their ballots for them. Check out the infamous Lyndon Johnson “Daisy ad,” which only aired once–on September 7, 1964–but received major media attention and reinforced the argument to voters that Republican Barry Goldwater would be trigger-happy regarding the use of atomic weapons: