Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan takes to the Baltimore airwaves again Saturday, knocking the records of his opponents for governor ? Mayor Martin O?Malley and Gov. Robert Ehrlich ? on crime, guns and education.
The 15-second spots on four TV outlets are probably less intended to persuade average voters to choose Duncan, than to create buzz for the campaign and earn some free media.
“They?re about trying to change the dynamic of the race,” said Mike Morrill, a public relations executive who ran Sen. Barbara Mikulski?s last two campaigns.
“They?ve developed a little momentum,” cutting into O?Malley?s lead in polls and “it?s a good strategy to buy relatively small amounts” of commercials.
The Duncan campaign has millions less than O?Malley?s, but it declined to say how much it is spending on its third series of ads. Duncan spokesman Jody Couser denied that the media buys would cause the campaign to run out of money this summer.
“We?re experiencing a surge in fundraising both due to the ads and to the addition of Stu Simms to the ticket,” Couser said. Simms, the ex-prosecutor from Baltimore, said he is spending much of his time making fundraising calls, and the campaign will have “the capacity” it needs for the fall.
In one of the new ads, Duncan, again standing next to cardboard cut-outs of his rivals, says: “This guy [Ehrlich] cut higher ed by $120 million” and “this guy [O?Malley] is spending more money on a hotel than on schools.”
The Ehrlich campaign declined to respond to the ad. Henry Fawell, the governor?s spokesman, noted that spending on higher education has gone up 13 percent in Ehrlich?s first term.
O?Malley spokesman Rick Abbruzzese called Duncan?s latest ad “his most dishonest yet.” It refers to a $305 million city bond floated to finance a new convention hotel downtown, which is expected to pay off the bond.
“While misleading the public,he demonstrates that he has no understanding of a project that will create hundred of jobs in Baltimore,” Abbruzzese said, as he launched his own attack on Duncan. “This project spends zero tax dollars, compared to the millions the county executive has overspent on taxpayer funded development in his county,” he said. Duncan “is trying to distract voters that he promised to reduce traffic and sprawl, but because of his close ties to big developers, growth is out of control and traffic only getting worse.”
