John Doolittle: Corrupt Or Ineffective?

Charlie Brown has started his first radio ad campaign and it's already getting a lot of attention. There are two ads, one narrated by Senator Max Cleland introducing Charlie, another talking about Congressman John Doolittle accompagnied by the website Corrupt or Ineffective.

The Sacramento Bee on the ads:

One of the ads features former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, talking about the Air Force Academy honor code and Brown's 26-year career in the service.

The second ad is a parody of the "tastes great, less filling" beer commercials from several years ago and features bar patrons challenging each other over whether Doolittle is "corrupt or ineffective."

The corruption cited in the ad refers to campaign contributions Doolittle has received from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The ineffectiveness makes fun of the congressman's name, "Do Little," and his advice to a group recently that it should hire a lobbyist to help get the attention of Congress.

If you live in the area you're about to hear the ads sooner or later on your local radio:

Todd Stenhouse, a spokesman for the Brown campaign, said the ads are running throughout the 4th District, which extends from the Sacramento suburbs to the Nevada border to the east and Oregon to the north.

"This is an ad buy for several weeks," Stenhouse said. "The ads will run on stations from Sacramento to Modoc to Reno. It is full saturation, with over a dozen stations."

However, there is one little problem:

According to reports the two campaigns have filed with the Federal Election Committee for the period ending June 30, Doolittle entered the general election season with about $261,000 in the bank to Brown's $74,000.

Money is a major issue. If you like the ads and want them to be aired contribute to the campaign. The Brown campaign let's us know how much airing the ads will cost:

For example, a gift of $500-$1000 buys a :60 AM Drive Time slot on our most popular local radio stations, and a gift of $250-$500 buys a PM Drive Time slot.

I know that's quite a bit but consider this: if you contribute $25 you buy up to 6 seconds of that spot, even $5 will pay for 1 second. When many people contribute small sums that always helps. Just give whatever you can.

There were also two diary entries on Daily Kos about Charlie Brown today. One by blogswarm and one by LindaR. Check them out.