Bernie Sanders on Wednesday morning unleashed a trio of new TV ads after being overtaken by Joe Biden in the Super Tuesday primaries — including spots targeting Biden on Social Security and touting praise from former President Barack Obama.

One of the 30-second segments is a near-duplicate of an ad Sanders released in January, which promoted audio of Biden’s remarks from the Senate floor in 1995. At the time, the former Delaware lawmaker was advocating freezing federal spending for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid during a debate over a balanced budget amendment.


“Well, we’ve got some bad news for them. We are not going to cut Social Security. We’re going to expand benefits,” Sanders says in the latest ad.

Another spot released Wednesday by Sanders’ campaign highlights a union auto worker hailing the senator’s longtime opposition to trade deals. The ad then flashes images of Biden and President Donald Trump as the auto worker criticizes “the banksters that have been robbing us blind and stealing our pensions and destroying our communities.”

The third Sanders ad features Obama heaping praise upon the candidate in what could easily be mistaken for an endorsement video — mirroring similar spots produced by other Democratic presidential hopefuls including Biden and Elizabeth Warren.

The ad features tape of Obama describing Sanders as “somebody who has the virtue of saying exactly what he believes” and applauding his work on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, where Obama says Sanders “got bills done.”


“I think people are ready for a call to action,” Obama says in the spot, which draws upon his old remarks. “They want honest leadership who cares about them. They want somebody who's gonna fight for them. And they will find it in Bernie.”

Biden’s campaign balked at the ad Wednesday, characterizing it as disingenuous given Sanders’ past questioning of Obama’s progressive bona fides and reported exploration of a 2012 Democratic primary challenge against the incumbent president.

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“As recent history has proven, no quantity of ads can rewrite history — and there’s no substitute for genuinely having the back of the best president of our lifetimes,” Biden spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement.

Sanders had signaled Tuesday evening his intention to focus on Biden’s record on Social Security and his advocacy for trade pacts such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Sanders’ and Biden’s campaigns have traded barbs over those issues during the primary campaign, and they are likely to spar even more aggressively as the race enters its next phase.


“One of us has spent his entire life fighting against cuts in Social Security, and wanting to expand Social Security. Another candidate has been on the floor of the Senate calling for cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and veteran’s programs,” Sanders told supporters in Vermont. “One of us led the opposition to disastrous trade agreements, which cost us millions of good-paying jobs. That’s me. And another candidate voted for disastrous trade agreements.”