DE Senate--Coons sensing opportunity airs first TV ad

Here's a sign of how negative the GOP primary in the Delaware Senate race is becoming: The Democrat in the race, sensing an opportunity, has accelerated his TV strategy and is already going up on the air.

New Castle Co. Exec. Chris Coons (D) is going on the air today with a positive ad that stands at stark contrast to the ads being aired on the GOP side by Rep. Mike Castle and the Tea Party Express-backed Christine O'Donnell before the Sept. 14 primary.

The ad, provided by Hotline On Call by Dem sources, is Coons' first of the campaign. It's largely a biographical spot, seeking to paint Coons as a reformer and budget hawk.

"Six years ago, New Castle County government was a mess of corruption and out of control spending," the ad says. "Then Chris Coons took over. Chris balanced the budget. He demanded more accountability. He cracked down on wasteful spending. Chris even cut his own pay."

This ad was already in the hopper for Coons, but his campaign clearly sees an opportunity to define him positively while Castle and O'Donnell duke it out. The ad is going up statewide, on cable. It is unclear how long the ad will stay on the air.

Hotline On Call reported earlier Wednesday that both Castle and the Tea Party Express have increased their ad buys for this week. Castle went up with a negative TV ad on Tuesday.

http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/

Thankfully they are better at ruining things for themselves than we are for ourselves.

Julie