Thursday, May 10, 2012

CD8 Air War: Dems' New Ad Targets Jesse Kelly As "Too Extreme"

Posted By on Thu, May 10, 2012 at 11:30 AM

The House Majority PAC has unveiled its new TV ad hammering Republican Jesse Kelly, who is facing Democrat Ron Barber in the June 12 special election to complete Gabrielle Giffords' term. The ad captures Kelly on the campaign trail, where he has promised to eliminate the minimum wage and corporate income taxes, lower taxes for wealthy Americans and privatize and phase out Social Security and Medicare.

Last week, Kelly attempted to backtrack on his support for privatizing and phasing out Social Security and Medicare through a makeover designed by the National Republican Congressional Committee. But when reporters pressed Kelly on how that squared with his earlier positions, he abruptly ended the press conference.

Kelly's campaign has not returned phone calls from the Tucson Weekly to discuss his new position.

Early voting in the special election begins next Thursday, May 17. An in-depth look at the race between Kelly and Barber can be found here.

Here's the press release from the House Majority PAC:


House Majority PAC today released an advertisement that demonstrates just how extreme Jesse Kelly is – using his own words. Kelly is the Republican nominee in the special election in Arizona’s Eighth District to complete the term of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

The TV ad, entitled “Screens,” will begin running on Friday. It features clips of Kelly championing extreme positions, like his support of tax cuts for the top one percent, a zero percent corporate tax rate, abolition of the minimum wage and his characterization of Medicare and Social Security as Ponzi schemes that he’d like to see eliminated.

“Jesse Kelly may now be working overtime to deny his full-throated support for extreme policies, but as Warner Wolf famously said, ‘let’s go to the videotape,’” said Alixandria Lapp, Executive Director of House Majority PAC. “Whether it’s backing massive tax cuts for the wealthiest among us, abolishing the minimum wage or eliminating Medicare and Social Security and ripping the safety net out from underneath seniors, Jesse Kelly is out of step with southern Arizonans.”

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