Representative Bruce Braley’s re-election campaign started running its first television commercial of the year Monday evening in the Cedar Rapids and Quad Cities markets. The ad responds to the misleading hit piece the American Future Fund began running in the same markets last week. The conservative group’s commercial claimed Braley “supports” building a mosque at the site of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks. I will embed the 30-second response ad, called “They’re Back,” once it’s available on YouTube. For now, here is the transcript provided by the Braley campaign:
ANNCR: They’re back.
The folks behind the sleaziest ad in history – NOW backing Ben Lange…lying about Bruce Braley.
Truth is, Braley says New Yorkers should decide about building near Ground Zero…
…just as IOWANS should decide things HERE.
Big corporations are hitting Braley because he’d END tax breaks for those shipping jobs overseas.
Gutter politics fueled by corporate cash may work for Ben Lange.
But Bruce knows who HE works for.
TAG: I’m Bruce Braley and I approve this message.
When the voice-over says “the sleaziest ad in history,” the viewer sees a screen shot of the notorious Willie Horton commercial from the 1988 presidential campaign. (The American Future Fund has worked with some very slimy Republican media consultants.) When the voice-over says, “Gutter politics fueled by corporate cash may work for Ben Lange,” a photo of Braley’s Republican challenger is in the center of the screen, with a shot of Willie Horton on the left and a shot from the American Future Fund’s commercial on the right.
Braley is wise to respond on television, because in a difficult political climate for Democrats, no incumbent should take re-election for granted. That said, I believe the American Future Fund’s planned “six-figure” campaign against Braley is more about wounding him for future elections than scoring an upset in IA-01 this year. Few observers think Lange has a chance in this D+5 district. Braley is an effective legislator with good constituent service and a seat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
UPDATE: Ed Tibbetts reports on reaction to the new ad:
Cody Brown, Lange’s campaign manager, responded to Braley’s ad on Monday, saying the campaign has no control over what the American Future Fund does.
“The point we were making is, he chalked it up to a local zoning decision,” he said. “To eastern Iowans, it’s more than that.”
Nick Ryan, who runs the American Future Fund, said Braley was resorting to “name calling and petty partisan politics.”
The Braley campaign did not say how much it was spending on the ad.
American Future Fund said it spent $50,000 on its ad.