Last week we had a great duel in the debate between former Govs. Tim Kaine and George Allen for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Jim Webb. On Monday we had dueling Kaine and Allen attack web videos.
Following up on themes used by the candidates during the debate, both the Democratic Party of Virginia and the Allen campaign unveiled videos going after statements made by the candidates.
The DPVA video goes after Republican Allen for government spending he voted for while he held the Senate seat he lost to Webb in 2006.
The video parodies the Mastercard "Priceless" commercials, using clips of Allen from the Dec. 7, AP Day debate. The "priceless" moment comes when Allen admits spending "was a problem" when he served in Washington.
"George Allen talks a lot about fiscal responsibility, but his record tells another story,"DPVA executive director David Mills said in a press release. "He wants Virginians to re-elect him to the U.S. Senate even though he's already spent six years there turning a record surplus into a record deficit by voting for tax cuts for the wealthy, the war in Iraq and a new entitlement program without paying for them."
Allen's senior campaign strategist Dan Allen said the DPVA video it's ironic the video mentions that federal spending averaged $16,000 a second during Allen's six years in the Senate.
"It's odd that this attack came from the Kaine team when spending under (President Barack) Obama is $49,000 a second - kind of absurd," Dan Allen said.
The Allen video continues to tie Kaine to Obama and his policies.
The video features Kaine in his time as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, a post he was appointed to by Obama in 2009 and resigned from when he announced his candidacy for the Senate last spring, praising the presidents cumbersome and controversial health care reform package, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - which Allen insists on calling "Obamacare."
Between scenes of Kaine promoting the legislation, the ad shows statements from editorial deriding the president's plan.
“As Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Mr. Kaine declared Obamacare would ‘go down in history as one of the great achievements of this president’,” Dan Allen said.“Instead families and small business owners are struggling under another failed Washington policy, on which Chairman Kaine sided with President Obama instead of Virginia.”
Kaine spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine said said the Allen video was an attempt to distract voters from his debate performance.
"Given the dismal reviews George Allen continues to receive for his debate performance, it's not surprising that his campaign is trying to change the subject," Hoffine said. "But, no amount of negative advertising from the Allen campaign will change the fact that Allen admitted he helped cause our fiscal mess, has nothing but the same failed Washington policies to help 'fix' it, and can't give voters a single reason to reelect him."
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