Candidate: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton

Link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlkfpZbc8OY

Images: Hillary Clinton talks to voters (and plays with babies) at campaign rallies and factories.

Time: 30 seconds

Audio: She's fighting for America's middle class. She'll end $55 billion in giveaways to corporate special interests and invest it in middle-class tax cuts and creating new jobs. She'll get tough on unfair trade deals and end tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas. Hillary Clinton says, "It's time to level the playing field against the special interests. Standing up for people who weren't getting a fair shake, that's been the purpose of my life. And it will be the purpose of my presidency."

Analysis: Among other items, the so-called corporate giveaways include $15 billion in "tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas," according to the Clinton campaign. The Bush administration puts the amount of lost revenue at about $13 billion for 2008.

It's true that U.S. corporations don't have to pay taxes here on earnings from their foreign subsidiaries as long as that money is reinvested overseas. But they do have to pay when they send the money back home, which sets the United States apart from many other countries, said J.D. Foster, a senior fellow in economics at the conservative Heritage Foundation. The United States also has one of the highest corporate tax rates among developed countries.

"We are much more punitive than anyone else," Mr. Foster said. U.S. companies already pay taxes in their host countries, he said, and a law change here could result in unfair, double taxation.

Some economists are unsure that a change in the U.S. tax system would have a substantial impact on job growth. Corporations likely would continue to invest abroad because they can pay lower wages to workers in other countries.

Mrs. Clinton has been highly critical of free-trade agreements that some blame for the loss of American jobs, although her husband's administration helped craft the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Candidate: Sen. Barack Obama

Link: my.barackobama.com/page/content/patoughestad/

Images: Mr. Obama appears at congressional hearings, news conferences, roundtable discussions. The ad ends with him addressing a big crowd. It starts in black-and-white and changes to color.

Time: 30 seconds

Audio: He took on the special interests and won, passing the toughest ethics law yet, banning gifts, meals and trips from Washington lobbyists. Now, Barack Obama's the only candidate refusing their contributions. Because to really reform health care and finally give the middle class a break, we need to rein in the special interests. Barack Obama says, "They have not funded my campaign. They will not run my White House. And they will not drown out the voices of the American people."

Analysis: In January 2007, the Senate did pass a bill that barred lawmakers from taking free entertainment, gifts and meals from lobbyists and limited lawmakers' travel paid for by special interests. The bill also instructed lawmakers to wait two years, instead of one, after leaving office before they themselves could become lobbyists.

A Washington Post editorial called it "the strongest ethics legislation to emerge from Congress yet." It credited Mr. Obama, along with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis.

Yet the Post also lamented the bill's limitations: It didn't include, for instance, an independent Office of Public Integrity "to beef up enforcement of ethics rules."

According to opensecrets.org, Mr. Obama had raised nearly 100 percent of his campaign funds from individual donors, as of Feb. 29.