Soccer Dad

Dogging steele

Michael Steele's "I love puppies" ad has inspired a Democratic response and laid the groundwork for a response by the candidate.

The Washington Times reports Democrats snarl at Steele in TV ad but he bites back

The ad by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) says Mr. Steele "likes puppies, but he loves President Bush," showing a picture of Mr. Steele and Mr. Bush in a heart-shaped frame.
...
The DSCC ad features playful music to criticize Mr. Steele for supporting the war in Iraq, backing the president's veto of embryonic stem-cell research and opposing abortion.

It is a good ad, keeping the tongue in cheek spirit of Steele's ad, yet hitting back hard. However Steele's objection to abortion and embryonic stem cell research isn't due to his support of President Bush, but due to his Catholic faith. Though potential voters don't have to know that.(The ad is not yet up at the DSCC website.)

It's telling that it's the national Democratic party that is running these ads and that they've committed to running six weeks of ads, not just two as originally planned.

There have been two competing polls recently. One (Surveys USA) showing Steele with a one point advantage (and within the margin of error) and the other (Potomac) showing Cardin with a significant 11 point lead. Though the latter poll used a larger sample of likely voters, I wonder if internal Democratic polls are getting results more similar to the former.

However, Steele was ready for the ad with another puppy ad.

In his response ad, Mr. Steele says, "You knew they were coming, nasty ads from the Washington crowd." He says that one of the "real differences" between himself and Mr. Cardin is that he supports "cheaper medicine from Canada."
"Congressman Cardin took money from drug companies and voted against cheaper medicine," Mr. Steele says.

I wish this wasn't the first issue that Steele was running on, as I'm not certain that it's a good idea. (But then Cardin who claims to take on the big drug companies also claims that he'll cure cancer in 15 years; I don't know how he can accomplish that without encouraging the pharmaceutical industry.) Still Steele seems to strike the right note.

Steele comes accross as personable with a sense of humor. Clearly he's hoping that his engaging personality will win over people who don't necessarily agree with him on the issues.

UPDATE: The Hedgehog Report wasn't as impressed with this ad.

Technorati tags: Michael Steele,Ben Cardin, Maryland Politics.