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Behind this claim lies a somewhat more complicated story than the simple cause-and-effect relationship implied by the commercial.

The 60-second spot focuses on Bradley's biography, featuring testimony from Sens. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., lauding Bradley's work on the 1986 Tex Reform Act, and Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., who talks up Bradley's outspokenness after the Rodney King beating.

Drumm appears at the end of the commercial, telling the camera, "When I was pregnant with my second child, Bill Bradley proposed a law that women be allowed to stay in the hospital for 48 hours. Thanks to Sen. Bradley, my daughter is alive today. That's the type of man I want in the White House." Words appear on the screen saying: "It can happen."

In June 1995, Bradley introduced The Newborns and Mothers Health Protection Act, which mandated that insurers provide 48 hours in hospital stays for mothers and their newborns. On Sept. 5, 1996, the legislation passed the Senate despite the ardent opposition of the American Association of Health Plans.

President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law in September 1996. Without question, the law has eased the transition from hospital to home for many new mothers who were previously basically forced to go home within 24 hours of giving birth. The bill probably has even saved lives.

A close examination of Drumm's story, however, makes it apparent that her daughter's is probably not one of them.

But Bradley communications director Anita Dunn defends the ad: "That's how Maureen feels. And there are millions of women across the country" who feel that way as well.

A spokeswoman in the public affairs department at Independence Blue Cross, which was Drumm's insurance company at the time, was a little less impressed by Drumm's claim that Bradley had saved her baby's life: "Really?" the spokeswoman joked, "Did he operate on her?"

If only Bradley's claim to have saved a life were as easily verified as that of Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn. Frist, a heart surgeon, has performed CPR on at least one visitor to the Capitol.

But the facts with this case are these: Maureen Drumm, who has lupus, gave birth to her first child, Bridget Theresa, in a complicated pregnancy at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in August 1992. Twenty-six hours after giving birth, Drumm developed a uterine infection, which sent her into shock. Only hours after that, her newborn daughter's bilirubin shot up to a dangerous level -- 18 mg percent. A bilirubin level of 21 mg percent in a child between 24 and 48 hours old could cause medical complications, medical experts say, though usually not.

But Drumm's insurance company allowed her a 48-hour stay during that 1992 delivery, so Drumm was in the hospital when the crises occurred. Accordingly, both she and her daughter were treated immediately and avoided any harm.

By the time Drumm was pregnant with her second child, in April 1995, Independence Blue Cross only provided 24 hour stays for routine deliveries. Drumm, concerned about how her lupus might affect her second delivery, "pleaded with my insurance company for the extra time so I could be monitored." But they said no. Drumm started crying.

Next page | Sen. Bradley to the rescue