http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0708/DCCC_up_with_first_ad_this_cycle_against_Kanjorski.htmlThe Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is up with its first television ad of the general election cycle on behalf of Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski (D-Pa.), who’s facing a tough re-election campaign against Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta.
The DCCC’s ad, which began airing Tuesday, paints Barletta as an ally of President Bush and tries to associate the Republican candidate with some of the White House’s most unpopular policy initiatives.
“Barletta supported George Bush’s failed economic policies,” the ad says. “Barletta even helped lead Bush’s campaign in Pennsylvania. And both have supported privatizing Social Security, putting our retirement at risk.”
The narrator closes: “Lou Barletta – he may be George Bush’s friend, but he’s no friend of the middle class.”
The DCCC’s ad is scheduled to air for two weeks.
“We have been aggressive all cycle, acting early and often. This is no different," said DCCC spokesman Doug Thornell. "Lou Barletta is trying to mislead voters, and we will not allow him to undergo an extreme makeover about his strong support of President Bush’s failed economic policies, tax cuts for the rich and privatizing Social Security.”
The DCCC’s decision to buy time in this district indicates that it’s taking Barletta’s challenge very seriously. In mid-June, Barletta announced the results an internal poll conducted in March that showed him leading Kanjorski by five points, 47 percent to 42 percent. That number was within the poll’s margin of error, but for a GOP challenger to lead was a striking development in a district that Kanjorski has represented for nearly a quarter century.
Barletta challenged Kanjorski unsuccessfully in 2002 and seems to be waging a more formidable campaign this time around. He has since built a national political following over his strident opposition to illegal immigration and the actions he took as mayor to curb it.
This ad may be the DCCC’s first of the cycle, but it’s not the first spot attempting to boost Kanjorski’s odds for reelection. Several weeks ago, the Kanjorski campaign aired an ad that also focused on economic themes, describing the Democratic incumbent’s modest upbringing and identifying him with the district’s economic struggles.
Early on, the National Republican Congressional Committee identified Barletta as one of its top recruits this election cycle and conducted its own polling that showed he would be able to unseat Kanjorski.
“Democrats in Washington are clearly worried about having to defend Paul Kanjorski’s multitude of gaffes and unethical transgressions,” said NRCC spokesman Ken Spain, alluding to impolitic comments Kanjorski made last summer in which he suggested that his own party’s congressional candidates had made disingenuous campaign promises about the Iraq war.
“Representing everything that is wrong with Washington tends to make a politician vulnerable,” Spain added.
For his part, Barletta has said he would never have entered the race if he didn't believe he could pull off the upset.
“There was a lot of pressure, and they did a lot of recruiting for quite some time. And I did have to give it a lot of thought,” Barletta told the Politico back in February. “I saw their polling in the race. They would not have had the interest they did if the numbers were not where they are.”
- Josh Kraushaar and Alexander Burns
