3:00 AM Girl Thinks Hillary’s Ad is ‘Fear-mongering’ ‘Cheap Hit’

By now, most people have seen or heard about Hillary Clinton’s 3:00 AM ad implying that the world would be safer if she rather than her opponent Barack Obama was to answer an emergency phone call to the White House in the dead of night.

JUJU CHANG (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) Thanks, Bill. Now to the political ad that made waves in this year's presidential campaign.

GRAPHICS: WAKE-UP CALL

GRAPHICS: 3 A.M. AD GIRL BACKS OBAMA

CLIP FROM HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN AD

JUJU CHANG (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) A commercial geared towards some of the voters' deepest fears. But that commercial is now getting attention, not for its message, but because of its young star.

JUJU CHANG (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) As it turns out, the 8-year-old girl in Hillary Clinton's ad is all grown up and has some political opinions of her own. Here's ABC's David Wright.

COMMERCIAL VOICEOVER (MALE)

It's 3:00 AM and your children are safe and asleep, but there's a phone in the White House and it's ringing.

DAVID WRIGHT (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) Thirty seconds designed to scare millions of voters.

SENATOR BARACK OBAMA (DEMOCRAT

We've seen these ads before. You're, they're usually the kind that play upon people's fears and try to scare up votes.

DAVID WRIGHT (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) The trouble is, they work. In Ohio and Texas, Clinton hammered the point home.

SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON (DEMOCRAT

...in the White House, when those calls come at 3:00 AM. When those calls come at 3:00 AM, it might be a national security crisis. When that phone rings at 3:00 AM in the White House.

DAVID WRIGHT (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) Her red phone ad was so effective, Obama was still responding this weekend in Wyoming.

SENATOR BARACK OBAMA (DEMOCRAT

If a phone call comes at 3:00 in the morning, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna answer it.

DAVID WRIGHT (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) But it turns out the little girl featured in the ad is all grown up now. Casey Knowles is now a high school senior. And guess what? She supports Obama. How did she end up in a Clinton ad?

CLIP FROM AL GORE'S CAMPAIGN AD

DAVID WRIGHT (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) The same way the factory worker from Al Gore's ad in 2000 ended up in a John Kerry ad in 2004. File footage available on the cheap. The lesson for voters, advertising and reality are sometimes two very different things. For "Good Morning America," David Wright, ABC News, Chicago.

BILL WEIR (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) And joining us now that sleeping angel in the ad, all grown up, 17-year-old Casey Knowles. Good morning to you.

CASEY KNOWLES (APPEARS IN AD FOR HILLARY CLINTON)

Good morning.

BILL WEIR (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) Thanks for being here. So, how did you discover that you were being used this way?

CASEY KNOWLES (APPEARS IN AD FOR HILLARY CLINTON)

Well, a few nights ago, my family sat down to watch Jon Stewart and 'The Daily Show" and they were parodying this ad, kind of poking fun of it.

CLIP FROM "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART "

CASEY KNOWLES (APPEARS IN AD FOR HILLARY CLINTON)

And they were, you know, replaying it and we paused it. And my brother's like, 'Is that Casey?" And, you know, we just erupted, pandemonium. And, 'Oh, my gosh, sure enough, it's me."

JUJU CHANG (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) Now, now, originally, you shot that commercial for a railroad company, right?

JUJU CHANG (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) And to be fair, it was part of Getty Images. The Clinton campaign have used it fair and square.

CASEY KNOWLES (APPEARS IN AD FOR HILLARY CLINTON)

Mm-hmm.

JUJU CHANG (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) And I take it, you're not deeply resentful of the fact that they used it?

CASEY KNOWLES (APPEARS IN AD FOR HILLARY CLINTON)

No, no, not at all. I'm really enjoying just the pure irony that I'm an Obama supporter.

JUJU CHANG (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) But you're - more than just a supporter. You have been active in his campaign for months.

CASEY KNOWLES (APPEARS IN AD FOR HILLARY CLINTON)

Yes, yes.

JUJU CHANG (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) Tell us about that.

CASEY KNOWLES (APPEARS IN AD FOR HILLARY CLINTON)

I've been campaigning for Obama for a long time. I actually called a lot of people around my area and got them to come out and caucus for him. I was a precinct captain at my caucus in February. And I'm actually a delegate for my precinct and I can go on to county, state and even potentially the national convention in Denver.

BILL WEIR (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) And has the Obama campaign reached out to you?

CASEY KNOWLES (APPEARS IN AD FOR HILLARY CLINTON)

Yes, they have contacted me. They think it's hilarious, obviously. In, in a previous interview, I mentioned that we should make a counter ad, me and Obama, against Hillary. And they thought that was really funny. They actually might take me up on it. So...

BILL WEIR (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) That would be funny. You wake up, answer the phone. So, since she used your image to give this message that she's much more experienced and, and would be the better person to answer that, that dangerous call, why is she wrong? Here's your equal time opportunity. Why is Hillary Clinton wrong with what she said in that ad?

CASEY KNOWLES (APPEARS IN AD FOR HILLARY CLINTON)

Well, what I don't like about the ad is it, it's fear-mongering. It's, I think it's a cheap hit to take. And I really prefer Obama's message of looking forward to a bright future where there, there aren't crises, you know? I think that's a much stronger message, is hope. And that's getting criticized that hope isn't real, hope isn't practical, but what more could you want in a leader.

JUJU CHANG (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) A very articulate 17-year-old. Thank you so much.

BILL WEIR (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) There we go. Will be 18 in time for the general election.

CASEY KNOWLES (APPEARS IN AD FOR HILLARY CLINTON)

Right.

BILL WEIR (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) You'll be voting, I can tell.

CASEY KNOWLES (APPEARS IN AD FOR HILLARY CLINTON)

Thank goodness.

BILL WEIR (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) Thank you, Casey. We appreciate your time.