Terry McAuliffe is coming close to total advertising superiority.
Locked in a three-way primary battle for Virginia’s gubernatorial nomination, McAuliffe has employed his formidable cash lead to outgun his Democratic opponents on television and radio.
The former Democratic National Committee chairman is increasingly perceived as breaking away from the pack with less than a month before the nominee is decided, partly because of the blanket of media buys pushing his candidacy and rebutting his opponents’ attacks.
McAuliffe rolled out his first TV ads in January. His rivals, former Del. Brian Moran and state Sen. Creigh Deeds, didn’t debut their television spots until this month.
And when Moran ran a 60-second ad on urban radio stations Sunday criticizing McAuliffe’s work as chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, in which he fought Barack Obama’s nomination, McAuliffe was able to fire back almost immediately. A day after Moran’s ad ran, he rolled out a response in the same market in Hampton Roads and Richmond.
“This is part of our strategy to let no misleading attack go unanswered,” McAuliffe spokeswoman Lis Smith said.
The swift response illustrates a serious problem for Moran and Deeds. Both have set their sights on their rival’s record as a political moneyman with only tenuous ties to Virginia politics. But McAuliffe, who raised more than $4 million in the first quarter of 2009, has the financial means to counterpunch at will.
“He may be able to drown out criticism, but I don’t think he can avoid an honest discussion of his record,” Moran spokesman Jesse Ferguson said. “He is going to do everything he can to walk away from that and rewrite history.”
A DailyKos/Research 2000 poll released Thursday found McAuliffe holding double-digit leads over both of his opponents, though still falling behind the presumptive Republican nominee, Bob McDonnell.
The McAuliffe campaign declined to say how much it has spent on its media buys, which include the expensive Northern Virginia market.
The Democratic nominee will be decided in a June 9 primary.
