It’s Friday afternoon, and the sales departments of television stations serving Montgomery County have closed for the weekend. Since stations require a 24 hour turnaround for new television ad buys, it means the lineup of campaign commercials is basically set for the remainder of the race.
A source close to Republican Commissioner candidates Bruce Castor and Jenny Brown says the campaign made a surprise purchase of about $300,000 in air time for the duration of the campaign. Ads will begin in earnest on broadcast on Saturday. The source says the $300K figure is in addition to the roughly $100,000 the campaign put on the air on Tuesday.
The campaign will air some of its previous commercials, but the bulk of the buy is said to be dedicated to a new, 15 second spot that criticizes Democratic candidates Josh Shapiro and Leslie Richards.
PoliticsPA is currently seeking a copy of the new ad.
When the Commissioners race began this year, the recurring theme was that the Democratic team had a significant fundraising edge over the GOP. In recent days, Republicans have become increasingly bullish about their own cash situation.
The Republicans’ campaign was on the air first, but Democrats had a steadier presence on television through much of October.
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9 Responses
I don’t think the Candyman…no. The other guy, perhaps. It seems more a tactic to overwhelm the other side at the end. More likely everyone’s polling showed it tight and the GOP waited until the last minute to dump in cash so the Ds couldn’t effectively counter. Use the end of the campaign to break the logjam. But there is zero chance the Brown Castor accepted any money from the Candyman and zero chance any was offered. Of that much, I’m certain.
Sounds like the GOP polls are telling them they are losing so the candy man and the Charter School guy opened their wallets in an attempt to buy the election.
Ok. I’ve now seen that ad, and to a lesser extent another of the Brown-Castor ads about 75 times. even twice while getting dresses this morning. I turn on KYW in my car, stuck in traffic and guess what? I hear a L O N G Brown Castor ad and then a Shapiro Richards ad attacking the very mild Brown ad (which made no sense). Good thing Shapiro hasn’t taken away my emailing from the car privileges as I sit here on the Schuylkill not moving (not yet anyway). I’m so irritated at these constant ads from the Brown Castor people that I think I will vote against them just for spite. “Blitz” is too mild a word for their assault. Maybe “deluge” is better. My wife said at breakfast that she’s not voting for Shapiro because he’s a “liar”. Wonder where she got that idea?
I watched college football all day then the local and national news. I must have seen that new ad with the headline saying Shapiro lies 30 times. Enough already!
I agree with your assessment of the ladies and Shapiro. I too watched the debate and it is clear that Castor relished annihilating Shapiro a little too much. on the other hand, Shapiro and Richards should not have based their entire media strategy on the flawed statement about the tea Party. If they lose, that will be the reason. Maybe Castor likes hurting people, but when they deserve it like Jim “The Jem” Matthews and Tea Party Josh, it is quite effective in bumping up Castor’s truthfulness while tearing down that of the opponent. catching them in this lie makes all the Shapiro Richards claims suspect. Hence the need to broadcast that out and associate their paid for name ID with the “lie” message. Absolutely devastating if there is enough time and money behind doing that. Shapiro and Richards should be scared to death. Maybe Castor is a mean person, but he has focused in on them.
Unfortunately, we the people in Montgomery County will lose with either of these men. Castor and Shapiro are both terrible individuals: Castor makes it his life’s work to hurt people- and it seems as though he enjoys it, too. Shapiro is an ego maniac who pretends to be a nice guy to your face but would no sooner sell his closest friends up the river for a vote. I was hoping that Brown and Richards would bring some class back to this race- they are both smart, qualified individuals. However, Castor and Shapiro love to hear their own voices and look at headsots of themselves a little too much- neither Brown nor Richards could get a word into the debate. Oh well, looks like the voters lose again….
ShaPYRO is going down hard. Out in MontCo the voters arent drinking the purple kool aid the Dems are selling. Why dont the Dems viciously attach character? Only guess is they will have 500-700 paid workers for E-Day. Josh is Joe hoffels little pet monkey, and is so leftist he makes Obama look like a right winger. Where did Josh learn from????? How will he slash and cut spending when its the opposite of eveything hes been taught?
With the election falling on the latest date it can, 11/8, October TV is nice. November TV is much, much better. Reading between the lines here, the BC people snookered the SR people into thinking they were tapped out, bided their time until it was too late, then understanding the reporting requirements, deadlines and such, used the calendar to advantage. The SR team was well funded and staffed, but their message was scattershot and lost focus after the Tea Party Debacle. The BC people were smarter. They had to be with the registration disadvantage, dysfunctional party organization, and less money. Bruce Castor is a very smart guy, and the delivery on Larry Kane of the double tap to Josh was vintage trial tactics, but Bruce can’t be running this campaign. Whoever it is, he or she is far better than the person running SR. Could be Josh, himself. He might think after his years with Hoeffel that he’s a master strategist. Time will tell on the result. From a purely campaign point of view, full marks to the BC campaign. With far lesser marks, but far more money and voters, SR may still win.
How many 15 second spots does $300,000 buy? I’ll bet a sh-t load. Looks like the Brown Castor folks caught Shapiro and Richards sleeping. Wouldn’t it be something if Shapiro and Richards lost with a load of dough unspent in the bank? Money they could have used for TV but got cocky thinking their opponents were broke. Oh well, they’ll just have more money for volunteers on Tuesday. Paid volunteers work harder.