Senate Attack Ads Begin

I wasn't expecting this until after Labor Day. Folks, you never roll out a new product in August. Everyone is on vacation and/or planning their Labor Day festivities (I'll be away all week-end by the way so the blog won't be very active. I'm not sure how much wireless is available around Raystown Lake). Tricky Ricky Santorum launched a humorous ad pointing out that his opponent has spent much of his life running for office.

Gee, that sounds to me like he's criticizing Casey for being a career politician. And what is Santorum? When's the last time he had a real job?

So Casey responded by attacking Tricky Ricky's fervent opposition to pay raises-except for his own. The difference in these two approaches is important. Casey attacked Santorum's record: his votes on issues. That's always fair game. Santorum, on theother hand, went negative, going after Casey personally. That's an important difference. Going negative this early is very bad form and tells me Santorum;s desperate. Their internal polls must not be good.

Of course there isn't all that much you can go after Casey about. The man has no voting record because he's only ever held clerical management positions. No one knows what he stands for so there isn't much leeway there. Santorum may have no alternative but go after the man personally. It's a risky enterprise because no one seems to dislike the man on a personal level. The duck idea never gained any traction so we'll see if the ad does. It is humorous, I like the way his arm falls off at the end.

Couldn't you folks have waited until after Labor Day? Am I going to have to interrupt my vacation to check the news periodically? Can't you cut a blogger a little slack? (that part was designed to give them a chuckle)

Oh, and if you hear about a tragic boating accident at Raystown and discover it's a blogger start checking the following alibis: well, you know the list.....