Republican candidate John Archer is running his first television commercial since the primary in Iowa’s second Congressional district. It’s mostly a positive spot introducing the candidate and doesn’t mention incumbent Representative Dave Loebsack by name. (The National Republican Congressional Committee went up on tv earlier this month with an attack ad on Loebsack.) The video and annotated transcript of Archer’s commercial are after the jump.

Archer’s commercial is called “Next Generation.”

My transcript:

Female voice-over: Higher taxes and more regulations are killing jobs [image of U.S. Capitol, words on screen HIGHER TAXES MORE REGULATIONS, shifts to image of sad-looking man in hardhat against background of abandoned factory, words on screen KILLING JOBS]

while the next generation inherits the debt. [image of young boy and girl, U.S. national debt clock above $16 trillion and rapidly increasing]

Iowa needs new leadership. [Gleaming words on screen against black background as bright light passes from left to right: IOWA Needs NEW LEADERSHIP]

John Archer. His career at John Deere and his small business ownership gives him a unique perspective. [Footage of Archer wearing safety goggles, talking and shaking hands with different men at Deere factory; John Archer for Congress campaign logo is near bottom of screen, then words change to John Archer SMALL BUSINESS OWNER]

Archer understands high taxes and overregulation [footage of Archer on a farm, walking and talking with farmer, words John Archer on screen]

hurt job creation. Archer will fight the wasteful spending and to repeal Obamacare. [footage of welders working in factory, Archer wearing safety goggles and talking with workers, then shaking hands with farmer; words on screen John Archer FIGHT WASTEFUL SPENDING, then John Archer REPEAL OBAMACARE]

John Archer: Leadership for Iowa. [Footage of Archer walking with family outdoors; he’s holding young daughter in one arm, holding young son’s hand with other arm, as wife holds their son’s other hand; words on screen John Archer LEADERSHIP FOR IOWA]

Archer’s voice: I’m John Archer, and I approved this message.

Although this commercial is too boilerplate for my taste, its message is more coherent than Archer’s pre-primary ad, which contained a lot of the same footage.

According to Ed Tibbetts of the Quad-City Times, Archer’s spot is running only in the Quad Cities market. The NRCC’s anti-Loebsack ad is also on the air in the Quad Cities only. Loebsack is running his ad on broadcast and cable in Cedar Rapids as well as in the Quad Cities, as well as on cable in the Des Moines market, which reaches the western counties in the new IA-02.

Quad Cities television reaches Scott County, the largest by population in IA-02, as well as neighboring counties such as Clinton and Muscatine, but a lot of the district’s voters won’t see Archer’s ad. The candidate had to spend most of what he raised this year to get through the Republican primary against Dan Dolan.

So far, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has not made an independent expenditure on television in IA-02 this year. The DCCC’s recent spending in the Quad Cities market is directed at voters in Illinois’ 17th district . However, Loebsack is on the DCCC’s “Frontline” list of vulnerable incumbents. If Democratic internal polling raises alarm bells, I expect the DCCC to run ads against Loebsack’s opponent, as they did in 2010 (see also here–one of the most distasteful Democratic commercials I’ve ever seen).

Any comments about the IA-02 campaign are welcome in this thread.