It’s been a while since my last post on the secretary of state race. Republican Matt Schultz is still running the radio commercial I described here, at least in the Des Moines market. I noticed today that his campaign posted a 30-second television commercial on YouTube on October 21. Schultz is a Council Bluffs City Council member, and the script of this ad sounds like it’s running only in the Omaha/Council Bluffs viewing area.
The video and transcript are below.
The Schultz campaign logo and VoteMattSchultz.com appear on screen throughout this commercial. My transcript:
Unidentified man: I believe in Matt Schultz because we need new leadership in Des Moines.
Unidentified woman standing next to a different man: I believe in Matt Schultz because he has worked to cut our taxes and bring better jobs to Council Bluffs.
Second unidentified woman: I believe in Matt Schultz.
Second unidentified man: Because he has worked hard to bring businesses like Google to our community.
Third unidentified woman, standing next to a different man: We believe in Matt Schultz.
Third unidentified man: Because he’ll fight for fair and honest elections.
Matt Schultz: I’m Councilman Matt Schultz, and when I’m elected secretary of state, I’m going to fight to require everyone to show a photo ID when you vote.
First unidentified woman, standing next to the same silent man as before: Vote for Councilman Matt Schultz for Iowa’s secretary of state.
I have no information on the size of the buy, but the Omaha market is very expensive. For the price of running this television commercial, Schultz could have increased his radio advertising in other parts of Iowa, where he is barely known.
I wonder if Schultz is throwing in the towel on beating Secretary of State Michael Mauro and trying to use this campaign to build his reputation in Council Bluffs. Maybe he plans to run for mayor or a Pottawattamie County position in the future. Alternatively, he may feel his best chance of winning the secretary of state race is to maximize turnout where voters know him best.
Tomorrow will probably be a difficult night for Democrats, but seeing Mauro survive a Republican wave would be some consolation. He has done tremendous work as secretary of state.