Ahead of tonight’s final U.S. Senate debate between former governors George Allen and Timothy M. Kaine, Allen is up with his first self-narrated TV ad, which continues his laser focus on looming defense cuts and the economy.
Titled “Ready” the ad also continues the effort by Allen and GOP outside groups to portray Kaine a reflexive taxer.
“America is ready for a comeback,” Allen says to open the ad, which features a series of quick clips showing Naval ships, soldiers in training, the Pentagon and a train car loaded with coal. “Defense cuts put it at risk. Two hundred thousand jobs are at stake. Tim Kaine’s solution is to raise taxes.”
Allen asks, “Can families and small businesses really afford more taxes?”
The ad also maintains the bipartisan tone both candidates have struck of late, with Allen saying that as governor, “working together with Democrats, we created 300,000 new jobs.”
He adds: “My plan stops the defense cuts, uses our energy resources, and creates jobs.”
“Virginians are ready for a comeback but George Allen is offering an economic throwback to the policies that got us into this mess,” responded Kaine campaign spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine. “What America’s businesses and families can’t afford are more tax breaks for the wealthy that come at the expense of investments in education, infrastructure, small businesses, research and development, and other priorities that strengthen the economy.”
Hoffine noted that Kaine’s plan for averting the defense cuts involves allowing the Bush-era tax cuts on households earning $500,000 a year to expire, changing Medicare to allow the government to negotiate cheaper drug prices for seniors, and ending subsidies for the big five oil companies.
The ad will air across the state for at least a week, according to the Allen campaign.
