U.S. Rep. Glenn Nye's first campaign commercial is up on his Facebook page and it's largely a redux of his first debate appearance - "I'm an independent voice, I stood up to my party, I voted against health care."
And like the debate, Nye doesn't go after his main opponent Republican Scott Rigell. In fact, Nye uses a bank shot to remind folks that he is not attacking Rigell in the same vein that Rigell is attacking him. (Neither Nye nor Rigell have brought up Independent Kenny Golden in their ads yet.)
Here's a link to Nye's Facebook page where the ad was launched -it doesn't appear to be running on TV yet - alough Rigell's first ad is up making the rounds already. Here's the text found next to the ad.
"Our opponent, Scott Rigell, is wasting no time attacking me. But while Rigell used his first TV ad to slander and smear, I am going to spend this campaign talking about my record of independence and my relentless support of our military and their families."
Nye's effort to polish his independent voting record in Congress is not going to sit terribly well with hard-core Democrats - and neither is his claim that he voted against Wall Street bailouts. Considering the fact that Nye wasn't in Congress in the fall of 2008 when the major Wall Street bailouts were passed and signed into law by President George W. Bush he appears to want to tap into anti-banker sentiment without a solid stance.
Nye appears to he hanging his "voted against the Wall Street bailout" statement on a vote he took in January of 2009 - long after the bailout was already making its way through the banking system. It's kind of amazing that Nye would even bring up the Wall Street bailout because he got hammered on the issue in 2008 by none other then Andy Fox.
Nye's balancing act is going to be a tough one to keep on the campaign trail. Nye doesn't want to be too closely associated with Democrats like President Barack Obama, but he also doesn't want the whole party base to simply stay home on election day - so he can't run a TOO much of a independent voice. State Democrats are already irked by his continued campaign against the health care bill - that sour taste is likely to grow worse as the campaign continues.
Nye's vote against health care is an effective tool against Rigell, because the Republican would have voted the same way. It forces Rigell to talk about Nancy Pelosi, even though she was already Speaker of the Housewhen Nye got elected. But Pelosi is reviled enough on the right - think George W. Bush cerca '08 - that that link tends to be red meat for folks who already support Rigell. But attempting to brand Nye with the Pelosi brush is probably less effective with middle of the road voters who tend to swing elections.
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