Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina went straight for the jugular today with her first television ad slamming rival Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) as arrogant. Fiorina’s camp uses footage from Boxer’s famed exchange with Brigadier Gen. Michael Walsh of the Army Corps of Engineers.
During a June 2009 hearing, Boxer asked Gen. Walsh to call her “senator,” not “ma’am.” The moment has been conservative catnip for more than a year, and Fiorina mentioned it in her first debate with Boxer last month.
The new 30-second ad released this morning includes the footage and goes to the core of Fiorina’s argument that Boxer has been in Washington too long.
“Twenty eight years in Washington, and Barbara Boxer works hard for a title? I’ll really go to work to end the arrogance in Washington,” Fiorina says straight to the camera.
Her Campaign Manager Marty Wilson said the Gen. Walsh exchange is “seared into the minds of Californians.”
“This is the beginning of our campaign’s fact-based approach to exposing the lowlights of Barbara Boxer’s career dedicated to raising taxes, increasing the size of government and promoting policies that strangle the private sector’s ability to create jobs,” Wilson said.
California elections are battled on the airwaves, and more voters are likely to see ads than meet the candidates. Boxer has a massive campaign warchest and has held steady in the polls, though Democrats still fear she is vulnerable this fall.
The TPM Poll Average of this race gives Boxer a slight edge over Fiorina: 46.7%-44.7%.
Watch the ad:
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