It’s not just the Republican Senate primary today in Arizona. There’s another fun race, for the open Republican House seat currently held by retiring GOP Rep. John Shadegg. And among the many contenders are Ben Quayle, son of former Vice President Dan Quayle, businessman Steve Moak, and former state Sen. Pamela Gorman — all of whom have had some pretty fun ads.
Ben Quayle had an ad in which he solemnly declared to the camera, “Barack Obama is the worst president in history,” and that “I was raised right.” Quayle further declared: “Somebody has to go to Washington and knock the hell out of the place.”
Quayle, of course, has also had to battle challenges to his own family-values credentials — most notably having posted years ago on a web site called “Dirty Scottsdale,” about nightlife in the eponymous Arizona city. Another candidate, businessman Steve Moak, has been attacking Quayle for this. Here’s his ad:
That’s spurred Quayle’s dad, the former Vice President, to get involved, Politico reports.
“I took my fair share of outrageous slams in politics but Steve Moak’s vicious smear against my son is over the top and unprecedented,” Dan Quayle wrote in an email to Ben’s supporter list. “I have never in my 35 years of politics seen such an ugly, slanderous assault in the closing days of a campaign against a fellow Republican.”
Quayle hasn’t been the only source of entertainment, though. Two months ago, Gorman had an ad touting that she is of a high “caliber” as a candidate — followed by video of Gorman firing a Tommy Gun, a handgun and an assault rifle, and also helping her son to shoot.
Funny thing: The announcer boasted that Gorman was “a pretty fair shot” and “always right on target,” but the camera never actually showed any target that Gorman might have been firing at.
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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