Brock to Air New Ads Featuring a Singing Governor Shumlin
UPDATED WITH VIDEO: See below, "Who's He Fooling," one of three ads Brock is began airing Saturday morning.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Randy Brock will launch his general election television advertising campaign Saturday with a clip of his Democratic opponent, Gov. Peter Shumlin, singing the Beatles.
Brock says his campaign has invested $70,000 in the 10-day ad run, which starts Saturday morning. According to public records obtained at WCAX-TV, Brock will spend $26,671 on 68 spots on the station during that time period. Brock's campaign says it also plans to go up on WPTZ-TV and Fox44.
Brock says the three ads in rotation, which will focus on the economy and health care, "are designed to show the contrast between my position and those of Gov. Shumlin."
He also confirmed that one of the ads will feature the governor singing the Beatles' classic, "Here Comes the Sun." The footage presumably comes from Shumlin's impromptu a capella performance of the song during the Burlington Business Association's annual dinner in April at the Hilton.
"I hope they'll be kind of fun and enjoyable," Brock says.
Brock previously aired a run of biographical ads this summer, but these are the first in the gubernatorial race since the start of the general election — and they are the first to mention his opponent. Shumlin, whose $893,000 war chest dwarfs Brock's $239,000, has yet to air any commercials. His campaign manager did not immediately return a call for comment Friday evening.
Several outside groups are also throwing resources into television advertising, including Vermonters for Health Care Freedom, which is spending $12,000 on an ad that mentions Shumlin's name, and the Vermonters First super PAC, which has already spent $100,000 on ads supporting other Republican candidates and criticizing Democratic health care proposals.
Brock says that, at this point in the campaign, it's important for him to draw a contrast with Shumlin on the issues.
"They're not nasty, but they do show a contrast and I think it's appropriate to show a contrast. This is what he does and believes and thinks, and this is what I believe and think," Brock says. "It's a contrast ad. I don't think they're negative at all."
Below, see video of Shumlin's Beatles performance taken by Greg Guma of VTDigger.org.
