Jay Nixon is the Democratic candidate for governor in my state, and Judy Baker is the candidate for my local seat. You probably know, but he has been our Attorney General for more than a decade, but has been an unsuccessful candidate for Senate in the past (that was the painful event when for the first time I filled in the circle next to a man whose name was Nixon -- don't get me wrong; I like Nixon but the name is difficult for me, still).
The advertisements are coming fast and fierce in Missouri. I saw both a new Nixon ad and a Judy Baker ad on my local tv news tonight. Some comments on the tone of the ads below the fold.
Judy Baker's latest ad emphasizes her biography. It also emphasizes her religion. I know why she is doing it, politically, and I am sure it is very important to her. And in her presentation it is not exclusionary. And I know I am not the audience. I am not a Christian, however, and to me the fact that she went through a seminary and met her husband there and her husband is now her minister doesn't make any difference. Her experience with health care, and her political affiliation (I would frankly vote for anyone with a D after his or her name and that has been the primary qualification for every candidate, every election, since 1994) are more important to me. But the thing I do like that nicely crosses the bridge to someone like me is one of her last comments:
We are people of faith, and my faith in America has never been stronger.
I can go for that.
The Jay Nixon ad I heard tonight doesn't seem to be on YouTube yet. I was really interested in the fact that it attacks Kenny Hulshof (the Republican) as having supported the "Bridge to Nowhere." It is just one of several wasteful things he is listed as having supported. But it is something that, as Sarah Palin's deceitful presentation of her position as not supporting the bridge, when she in fact really did support it. I hope that works for him.
His slightly earlier ad, which emphasizes the desperate situation the idiot Republicans in our legislature have gotten us into (we have lost more jobs in the last year than our border states combined), is really laser-focused on the economy. It again a buzz word from the presidential campaign. It is change. This is a bit trickier than I would like because Nixon has been around Missouri, one of the few state-wide Democratic office holders. But Hulshof has been "part of the problem in Washington" as the saying goes.