Ad wars: Collins returns fire

With the DSCC running a negative ad against Collins and Congressman Allen's Negative ad also running, it was to be expected that the Collins campaign would return fire.

Once again, demonstrating the importance of cash on hand, the Collins campaign responded to both ads. As reported in PolitickerME, Collins responded directly to the DSCC ad. The Collins response ad opens with the narrator saying, "For 18 months, Tom Allen's out of state allies have tried to mislead you about Susan Collins. They distort her record, and ignore the facts." The rest of the ad refutes each of the points, point by point -- and gets one last whack at Tom Allen, essentially blaming him for the ad. This is a good response ad, and at the very least provides a good counter balance to the DSCC ad. The victim angle, in which viewers are supposed to feel terrible that Tom Allen's friends are saying such mean things about Senator Collins, is pretty humorous. Here you have someone up double digits in the polls and with a few million more dollars in the bank than her rival, and they embrace the victim card. I have no doubt that the meme's in Lewiston will probably buy every word of it.

In responding to the Allen ad, the Collins folks seized on the opportunity to drive a stake in the ground of Maine's independent voters by stressing bipartisanship. The ad also provides three specific principles that Collins is for - which I assume are the latest hot button message points coming from the pollsters. I enjoyed the "coincidence" of her public statements on the financial bail out and her latest ad.  Talk about staying on message! She also takes the obligatory whack at Allen for his attack ad and closes with the "Independent voice for Maine" tag line, which I assume is a gentle reminder to Tom Allen that she wins with the middle - every time. It's a pretty good ad, and certainly matches up well against the negatve ad being run by the Allen campaign.

October will bring lots of new poll numbers, and the chance to see what effect, if any, these ads have had on the Maine voter.