Last week, Republican Bob McDonnell’s controversial, 20-year old thesis from Regent University sparked headlines thanks in part to a new poll showing the race tightening and the Fairfax debate where the issue came up time and again.
We have more evidence that the issue isn’t going away. Democrat Creigh Deeds just today released three new television ads. Two of them focus entirely on McDonnell’s thesis. The third is a positive ad, highlighting Deeds folksy charm and Virginia roots.
There is a clear strategy from the Deeds campaign. They are going on the attack with the thesis ads which will not only drive up McDonnell’s negatives, but also Deeds. He can’t be seen as being too negative, otherwise the ads could backfire. It happened to Jerry Kilgore in 2005 when aired some tough ads against Tim Kaine and his stance against the death penalty.
So, the attack ads being unveiled will be in rotation with the positive Deeds ad, to try and mitigate the potential for a backfire.
McDonnell was already running a response ad to Deeds’ near constant attacks on this topic. It’s a straightforward ad that seeks to minimize the damage of this thesis. As best I can tell, so far it’s only airing in Northern Virginia. We’ll see if the Deeds campaign’s latest move will force McDonnell to more directly address this issue.
Posted by Jay Warren at 04:37 PM. Filed under: main •
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