Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who faces several opponents from both parties in Georgia’s Nov. 3 all-party primary, is out with another commercial where she seeks to burnish her right-wing credentials, but this time, she does so by favorably comparing herself to that icon of modern conservatism, Attila the Hun. Reporter Ben Jacobs may have put it best when he tweeted, “Comparing yourself favorably to a pagan warlord best known for ravaging Western Christendom seems like a bold move.”
The commercial begins ordinarily enough, with a woman telling the guy who is presumably supposed to be her husband, “Did you know Kelly Loeffler was ranked the most conservative senator in America?” to which he replies, “Yep, she’s more conservative than Attila the Hun.” The scene then shifts to a throne room as a seated Attila growls to a servant, who translates his command as, “Fight China, got it.” (Attila did not fight China.)
Attila’s servant continues with the to-do-list of, “Attack big government,” which is an interesting way to describe Attila butchering numerous people and almost bringing the Western Roman Empire to its knees. Attila issues one more command, which the translator reads out as, “Eliminate the liberal scribes … Uh oh.” But just in case the audience is meant to think that even Loeffler thinks this casual joke about mass murder is going too far, an unseen narrator jumps in, “More conservative than Attila the Hun. Kelly Loeffler, 100% Trump voting record.”
The commercial left plenty of observers incredulous, including Rep. Doug Collins, who is Loeffler’s main intra-party foe. His spokesperson responded, “Kelly thinks conservatives are grunting, filthy, mass-murdering open borders atheist polygamists. She lives in a seriously warped palace with an odd view of the peasants.”
Loeffler’s ads came the same day that pastor Raphael Warnock, who is the favorite candidate of national Democrats, released a survey from GBAO to argue that he’s well positioned in the Nov. 3 all-party primary. The poll finds Loeffler in the lead with 29%, while Warnock edged out Collins 25-19 for the second spot in an all-but assured January runoff; two other Democrats, businessman Matt Lieberman and former U.S. Attorney Ed Tarver, take 11% and 5%, respectively. This sample also finds Joe Biden ahead 49-46.
The memo also includes data from an unreleased early July survey to reinforce its case that Warnock, who began running ads a month ago, has been gaining ground. That poll found Collins in the lead with 26%, while Loeffler outpaced Lieberman 21-19. Warnock was in fourth with just 16%, while Tarver was at 9%.
We also got another new survey from the British firm Redfield & Wilton Strategies, but while it has the top four candidates in the same order as GBAO’s newer poll (Tarver is not mentioned in the writeup), it finds a tighter race to reach the runoff. Loeffler is in first with 26%, while Warnock leads Collins 21-19 for the crucial second place spot and Lieberman isn’t too far behind with 15%. The sample also finds Donald Trump ahead 46-45.
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