Ad Watch: Our Washington goes after Rob McKenna, says he’s not who he says he is

Wel­come to Ad Watch, our newest spe­cial series, which will run week­ly from now until elec­tion week. The pur­pose of this series is to attempt to cat­a­log, or index, the many cam­paign ads that are going up on tele­vi­sion (and some­times radio) to influ­ence elec­tions in the Pacif­ic North­west. In each install­ment, we’ll briefly describe ads we’ve seen that are being paid for by can­di­dates, bal­lot mea­sure coali­tions, polit­i­cal par­ties, or shad­owy spe­cial inter­ests mas­querad­ing as grass­roots groups, and pro­vide links so you can watch the ads for yourself.

This week in Ad Watch:

• Our Wash­ing­ton, a coali­tion of unions, Demo­c­ra­t­ic donors, and the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Gov­er­nor’s Asso­ci­a­tion (DGA), have unveiled their first anti-Rob McKen­na TV spot. It’s titled Clean Up, and it is accom­pa­nied by a new web­site, The Real McKen­na. The cen­tral theme of the ad is “Rob McKen­na isn’t who he says he is.”
• The afore­men­tioned anti-McKen­na ad was launched only days after the Repub­li­can Gov­er­nors Asso­ci­a­tion (RGA) put up their first anti-Jay Inslee ad. Titled Time after Time, it attacks Jay Inslee for vot­ing in favor of the Amer­i­can Recov­ery and Rein­vest­ment Act (ARRA). The ad char­ac­ter­izes ARRA as a fail­ure, when in real­i­ty, it saved mil­lions of jobs.
• Inslee’s own lat­est ad is titled Built, and in it, the Demo­c­ra­t­ic guber­na­to­r­i­al stan­dard-bear­er points out that in the pri­vate sec­tor, not all firms suc­ceed… but some star­tups go on to be big, suc­cess­ful com­pa­nies like Boe­ing or Microsoft. Inslee has said he wants to encour­age and pro­mote inno­v­a­tive star­tups as gov­er­nor, espe­cial­ly in the field of clean energy.
• Rob McKen­na’s newest ad is titled Good Rea­sons and attempts to put a shine on McKen­na’s record as attor­ney gen­er­al, and to inoc­u­late McKen­na against Democ­rats’ “war on women” frame. It ends by say­ing “As gov­er­nor, Rob McKen­na will con­tin­ue pro­tect­ing Wash­ing­ton’s women and chil­dren. After all, he has good reasons.”
• Wash­ing­ton Unit­ed for Mar­riage has unveiled its lat­est pro-mar­riage equal­i­ty spot, titled Boehler. It fea­tures Robin and Steve Boehler talk­ing about one of their daugh­ters (who is a les­bian) and their hope that she will be able to mar­ry the woman she loves when she’s ready.

Did we miss an add that should be on this list? Let us know in the comments.