Club for Growth on air for Hoffman

The D.C.-based Club for Growth is flexing its muscle with a $250,000 ad buy on behalf of their endorsed candidate in the 23rd Congressional District.

The buy includes a television and radio spot (see/hear both below) that will the club says will air in the district's three main media markets - Watertown, Syracuse and Plattsburgh.

I understand the strategy behind the television ad - link Mr. Hoffman's two rivals, Dede Scozzafava and Bill Owens, with two unpopular politicians, Gov. David A. Paterson and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Mr. Paterson is considered unfavorable by 57 percent of the respondents in this morning's Siena poll of the district, while Mrs. Pelosi came in at 50 percent.

But I don't like it. I don't like it because it's negative, it says nothing about who Doug Hoffman is, or what he stands for. In fact, it doesn't even mention the candidate by name. (The radio ad does mention him.)

To me, that's a mistake. Seventy-one percent of people in the Siena poll don't know the Conservative candidate, so what he most needs at this point is to increase his name ID with voters. This ad does not accomplish that.

I'm working on a bunch of other stuff, but I'll be fact-checking this ad as I have with the others. I heard them say that Ms. Scozzafava backs a Gov. Paterson budget. I don't think that will add up, because Eliot Spitzer would have proposed the 2008-09 budget before he resigned and Ms. Scozzafava voted against the 2009-10 budget.

UPDATE: It sounds like Matt Burns, Ms. Scozzafava's spokesman, picked up on the same point. He said the ads are "false" because of the claim about the budget. He's also apparently resorted to name-calling.

"Dishonest Doug is probably demoralized by today's poll numbers, which show he's totally unelectable," Mr. Burns said in a statement. "Still, that's no excuse for Dishonest Doug and his special interest supporters to distort Dede's record of principled leadership. Someone should probably let Dishonest Doug know that perpetuating lies with $250,000 in special interest money won't make them true. Voters of the 23rd Congressional District, where Dishonest Doug doesn't even live, are already rejecting his negative campaign."

Here is the radio ad:

And here is the TV ad:

Transcript:

"Who’s more liberal, Dede Scozzafava or Bill Owens? In Albany, Scozzafava voted for bank bailouts and last year’s huge Paterson tax-and-spend budget. Owens backs Nancy Pelosi’s liberal agenda. They both support card-check and record-breaking Washington stimulus spending. Scozzafava or Owens? That’s like asking Paterson or Pelosi. Upstate New York deserves better."

Politico has pointed out that the Club couldn't even be bothered to write a new script for Mr. Hoffman.