First TV Ad of the 2006 Congressional Campaign

by Chris Bowers, Mon Sep 26, 2005 at 08:02:05 AM EDT

As far as I know, Bryan Kennedy, who is challenging Jim Sensenbrenner in WI-05, has produced the first television ad of the 2006 congressional campaign. It is pretty good, as it hits Sensenbrenner hard for voting against Katrina relief. The ad can be found here.

Now, WI-05 is easily the most Republican district in Wisconsin, and is quite comparable to OH-02 in terms of partisan make-up. However, it is an excellent sign to see Democrats on the attack even in these Republican strongholds, so that no Republican held seat goes either uncontested or only lightly challenged. Brian Kennedy is a Project 90 candidate. If this is a sign of Project 90 work to come, that effort looks to be a resounding success.

Tags: House 2006 (all tags)

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Conrad

Unfortunately I have no link as it was a story I read over the weekend, but Conrad has positive ads about himself up in ND.

by Bothwell 2005-09-26 08:19AM | 0 recs

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Virginia Foxx

We need a commercial like this in every district where a Rep. voted against the funding. In NC, Virginia Foxx voted against the funding, but we have no candidate yet. There are rumblings that the mayor of Winston-Salem might run against her, but no candidate in the field taking advantage of this situation.

by Robert P 2005-09-26 08:43AM | 0 recs

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Um,

I thought Rep. Harold Ford Jr. was the first to put up an '06 ad (three if I'm not mistaken) for his Senate campaign in TN.

by HoosierJosh 2005-09-26 10:01AM | 0 recs

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Re: Um,

I meant hte first ad in the House, rather than all of Congress. Should have been more specific.

by Chris Bowers 2005-09-26 11:29AM | 0 recs

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Am I missing something?

Isn't this an appeal to the most nativist (and ill-informed) impulses of the electorate - with a dash of fiscal irresponsibility thrown in?

Do we here on MyDD actually think that aid to Indonesian tsunami victims was a bad thing? That writing a blank check to this administration on flood relief is a good thing?

by tliazos 2005-09-26 11:12AM | 0 recs

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Re: Ad

Well, if you think voting against Katrina relief was a good thing, I hope you are running Sensenbrenner's campaign.

by Chris Bowers 2005-09-26 11:33AM | 0 recs

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Re: Ad

Amen to this.

by HoosierJosh 2005-09-26 12:33PM | 0 recs

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Re: Ad

Good ad. Even if WI-5 is the most conservative district in the state, Sensenbrunner has a HORRIBLE voting record, especially recently. A vote against Katrina relief is pretty indefensible, and thats the type of thing (much like the corruption issue that made OH-2 so close) that will disgust moderate Republicans enough to vote for a Democrat. Never say never.

by AC4508 2005-09-26 01:39PM | 0 recs

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Re: Ad

I can only say that I voted for the 60 billion before I voted against it.

But seriously... I stand by my view that this ad is designed to appeal to the worst instincts of the electorate.

Why else bother to mention tsunami aid? If the angle of attack was that Sensenbrenner is heartless because he would not vote for Katrina aid, why not just say that? Show pictures of kids, and of the devastation and say, Jim Sensenbrenner just doesn't care.

The most obvious, and most likely, answer is that somebody told him criticizing money spent on foreigners polls well.

The point is to make the argument that Sensenbrenner cares more about foreigners than Americans. The Democratic party should not try to win elections by positioning itself as more nativist than the Republicans. It's wrong and it's bad politics.

I hope we all agree that the tsunami aid money was the right thing to do, and money very well spent (heck - we ought to remember that we, correctly, criticized the Bush administration for being slow off the mark on this when it happened). And I think that's a majority position. Unfortunately, most people also have an entirely mistaken view of how much we spend on foreign aid and what it's for. There's a lot of high-return-on-the-dollar good we can do preventing famine and disease and making friends.

Ads that try to reinforce wrongheaded and stingy views about foreign aid do liberals no good, and we shouldn't forget that.

by tliazos 2005-09-26 04:42PM | 0 recs