UPDATED: Pritzker TV Barrage Against Bailey Begins
Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia), the GOP nominee for Governor, holds a news conference Tuesday night in Effingham. Just hours after winning the primary, Governor JB Pritzker began airing negative ads against the conservative Republican.
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Let the negative ads for the fall campaign begin.
Within hours of becoming the GOP nominee for Governor Tuesday night, Governor JB Pritzker’s campaign was out with a new television ad attempting to paint Senator Darren Bailey’s (R-Xenia) stance on abortion as extreme.
Clearly, the Pritzker campaign believes it can mobilize liberals on the abortion issue, even though the Roe vs. Wade decision has nearly no impact in Illinois.
This isn’t just a little web video, either. I’m told the Pritzker campaign is spending over $200,000 on cable this week and another $375,000 on only Chicago broadcast television stations. The ad isn’t the only one Pritzker is running, as it is in rotation with two other Pritzker ads, one focusing on abortion and the other focusing on jobs.
UPDATE 4:20 P.M.:
The Pritzker campaign will spend another $200,000 on cable around the state from July 5-11. It’s just a fraction of what he could spend at this point, but it could be a sign the Pritzker campaign won’t be taking its foot off the gas.
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This already has shades of the Blagojevich/Topinka race in 2006 when Blagojevich, who had $25 million (remember when that was a lot?), and put it on TV early to knock out cash-strapped Republican Judy Baar Topinka before Memorial Day. If Bailey doesn’t have enough cash left over from the primary (we’ll find out in two weeks when reports are due) or he doesn’t get a cash infusion from billionaire backer Richard Uihlein, the southern Illinois senator could be knocked out before he’s up on his feet.