http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBQhp7dUkGE&feature=youtu.be

The unexpected wave of media coverage and controversy sparked by House Majority Leader Mike Turzai’s comments about the Voter ID law at a state party committee meeting last month seems to have given PA Democrats not only a great talking point, but a way to fundraise.

In an email blast entitled “Zero cases” sent out yesterday, the Dems not only reminded its recipients of Turzai’s comments – which seemed to insinuate the law will be (and was meant to be) a deciding factor in favor of a Romney win come November – but also that Gov. Corbett gave almost $250,000 in taxpayers’ money to fund an ad campaign “that will attempt to gloss over the disastrous effects of the Voter ID law.”

That quarter-million dollar contract just happens to be with a Romney fundraiser and former state Republican party executive director, Chris Bravacos.

According to Philadelphia City Paper, two samples of the Public Service Announcement-style ads were removed by Bravacos’s firm Bravo Group, but were reposted online by Occupy Harrisburg.

One ad portrays the Voter ID law as a civil rights issue and features photographs of voting in the era of black-and-white photography. People lined up to punch their ballot and drop it in the box and suffragettes marched in the streets for voting rights.

The other ad (above) shows B-roll footage of actors smiling and holding up sample IDs.

The tagline for both ads is “Your right to vote: it’s one thing you never want to miss out on.”

PA GOP Executive Director Michael Barley said that the Democrats are fighting this law for one reason: voter fraud favors the Democratic Party.

“Voter ID is about preserving the integrity of the vote. This is a commonsense reform that polling has shown to be supported by a clear majority of Pennsylvanians. Preventing any illegal ballot from being cast should be a shared goal of all Pennsylvanians,” he said.

“I am guessing that the PA Democratic Party is fine with a Joseph Cheesboro/Cheeseborough walking around casting ballots in multiple polling locations as long as he is registered Democrat.”

But the PA Dems email goes a step further. If Gov. Corbett believes that voter fraud is an issue, surely that means he has seen a lot of cases of it during his time as Attorney General.

The email asks “How many cases of voter fraud did Governor Corbett prosecute?” And answers with the email’s subject line, “Zero…zero cases.”

The last part of the email gets into the real message, which is that the Governor signed the law knowing that it wasn’t about fraud, but about Republican wins at any cost. And, while the Dems can beat them fair and square, donations to help them fight the message that Voter ID is a civil rights law would be helpful.