Brown-Warren Attack in Internet Ads
Date:
08/13/2012
Contributor:
Sarah Birnbaum
Dateline:
Boston 
Over the weekend, Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney chose US Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate over the weekend. The Massachusetts Democratic Party wasted no time in putting up an internet ad trying to tie Republican US Senator Scott Brown to Romney's conservative vice presidential pick. And the State's Republicans fired back with an ad of their own.
[AD CLIP]
“Well I know when it comes to dealing with the economic issues there’s no one I would trust more than Governor Romney … finally we had congressman Ryan come forth with a budget proposal. Thank God.”
That's Scott Brown in an ad put out by his opponents. The aim is clear. To connect Brown to Paul Ryan’s controversial budget plan and Medicare overhaul.
Brown against Ryan’s budget plan twice – which the ad doesn’t mention - but he’s also spoken highly of the Wisconsin Republican.
Brown has been downplaying the fact that he’s a Republican and trying to promote his independent streak. He boasts of working with President Barack Obama to pass bills and posts pictures of him with the Democratic president on his campaign website. Observers say it’s a savvy move for a Republican trying to win re-election in one of the bluest states in the nation.
Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Republican party posted its own ad bashing Brown's Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren for supporting tax hikes. The video begins with a clip of Warren talking about the responsibility of successful business people to pay higher taxes:
[AD CLIP]
“Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea, God bless, keep a big hunk of it. But part of the
underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward…”
The spots won’t air on TV. Instead, they’re geared toward a smaller audience on the internet.
Tobe Berkovitz, a professor of Political Advertising at Boston University, says both ads are cheap, badly produced and seemed to have been thrown together overnight.
But he says they give voters a glimpse of the themes and lines of attack to come:
“Out of the 2 ads, the one that was run by scott brown had some nuggets that down the road can work. Using Elizabeth warren rallying troops against what she sees as the evil republican empire. Those sound bites could come back to hurt her if done properly. On this particular video, they weren’t done properly.”
Senator Brown and Elizabeth Warren will hold their first televised debate in September.
