With the April 18 primary now six weeks away, the special election for Georgia's 6th Congressional District is starting to heat up. Signaling some worry about the intense outpouring of enthusiasm for Democrat Jon Ossoff, the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC close to Paul Ryan, launched the first ads of the race last week, a $1.1 million campaign that (seriously) "attacked" Ossoff for dressing up as Han Solo when he was in college. Judging by anecdotal evidence, at least, the effort has some real potential to backfire, as most online comments have been along the lines of, "This guy seems cool—I just donated! #jonshotfirst."
Perhaps, though, the ads are faring better with older, Jabba-supporting voters (known to be a very pro-Hutt cohort), since Ossoff responded with a trio of spots of his own. (The reported buy is much smaller, though: just $75,000 so far.) Ossoff's first ad directly pushes back at the CLF's attempt to paint him as inexperienced, with a narrator describing Ossoff as "a national security aide with top secret clearance" who "fought to stop" "waste and abuse by military contractors." The spot adds that in his work as an investigative filmmaker, Ossoff "took on corrupt foreign officials who were stealing U.S. tax dollars and helped send them to jail."
Ossoff himself narrates the second ad, laying out his priorities, including fixing Obamacare, because "repealing it makes no sense." At the end, he also goes right at Trump, saying, "When President Trump embarrasses our country or acts recklessly, I'll hold him accountable." The final spot, meanwhile, is focused entirely on Trump. It shows Ossoff in a high-tech command center as a digital clock counts down above him: "Imagine you had thirty seconds to make a life or death decision affecting thousands of Americans," he says. "That's what we expect of our President. Sound judgment. That's why it's so concerning to see President Trump act so impulsively. He's not only embarrassing us on the world stage. He could start an unnecessary war." Concludes Ossoff as the clock strikes zero: "We can't let Donald Trump put us at risk."
And the first ad from a GOP candidate has now dropped, too, though it's a weird one. Former state Sen. Dan Moody, who's reportedly putting $300,000 behind this buy, is out with a minute-long spot that looks like a particularly whacked-out nature video, featuring footage of distressed-looking donkeys and elephants. A narrator delivers a meandering, metaphorical discourse on how poorly these animals behave until finally, 41 seconds in, Moody finally appears, shoveling up behind them, because he's "repeatedly proven he's willing to joyfully do the hard stuff." It's a poop-themed ad. We get it.
Finally, we also have a new survey of the race, from Republican pollster Trafalgar Group. The poll finds Ossoff tied at 18 with the best-known Republican running, former Secretary of State Karen Handel. Another Republican, wealthy businessman Bob Gray is at 13, while four other Republicans are in single digits. (Former state Sen. Ron Slotin, the only other Democrat tested, takes 3 percent.) The only other poll we've seen came from another GOP firm, Clout Research, which found the same players in the top three spots, but with much more spacing between them (Ossoff 32, Handel 25, Gray 11). With most candidates not yet on the air, a lot can and will change.