As an elections analyst, I've watched countless campaign ads, and they tend to cluster around similar themes. But here's a new spot from the League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club that definitely stands apart, particularly since they're spending a hefty $350,000 to air it in the hotly contested Florida special election to replace the late Rep. Bill Young:
In case you are unable to watch, here's a transcript:
Ignore the storms. Ignore polar cold. Ignore sea levels rising all around us. Ignore climate change. That's David Jolly's view. But Gulf tides are rising, and the risk of flooding has doubled. NASA and the U.S. military agree: Pinellas needs to prepare. The Times says Jolly's wrong on climate change—that Jolly should go back to his "science books and learn some facts." David Jolly. Back to school, not to Congress.
The spot zooms in on a simple yet effective map that shows just how vulnerable Pinellas County,
a fragile peninsula that juts out between the Gulf of Mexico and Tampa Bay, would be to rising seas and worsening storms. Given how swingy Florida's 13th District is, climate change, when framed properly, must poll better than broadly phrased national survey questions suggest—otherwise LCV and Sierra wouldn't be plowing this kind of money into an ad like this.
Jolly, who's been getting outspent on the airwaves, faces Democrat Alex Sink in the March 11 special election. All signs indicate a tight race, but if Sink is successful, a victory would represent a pickup for the Democrats.