WASHINGTON (AP) – The Republican Party is advertising on New Hampshire radio airwaves this weekend to pressure Democratic presidential candidates in town for a Sunday night debate.

The Republican National Committee ad features New Hampshire state Rep. Al Baldasaro, a retired Marine who fought in the Persian Gulf War, criticizing the leading Democratic candidates for opposing a war spending bill. “Is politics more important than our troops in harm’s way?” Baldasaro asks in the spot.

Under pressure from liberal Democrats, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois voted against a measure that would continue funding military operations in Iraq because it did not include a troop withdrawal timeline.

The 60-second ad singled out Clinton and Obama, along with 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards, who also opposed the measure.

The ad was scheduled to air on radio stations in Boston and Manchester, N.H. The RNC refused to say how much the airtime cost.

AP-ES-06-01-07 1836EDT