PORTLAND, Maine — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Charlie Summers went on the offensive against independent front-runner Angus King Monday, noting that King used an ad comparing an opponent to a mummy while running for governor in 1994 before taking his current stance against negative campaigns.
Lance Dutson, Summers’ campaign manager, unveiled the Republican’s first video commercial of the general election campaign Monday morning at The Regency Hotel in Portland. Dutson said the ad was made in direct response to a King campaign press conference a week ago in which supporters from Maine’s business community decried a U.S. Chamber of Commerce television advertisement against him.
So far, the Summers campaign isn’t airing the ad on TV stations or online, beyond posting it to YouTube and its own website. The campaign says it’s likely to make an online advertising buy, and it might run the ad on television in the future.
“Angus King clearly doesn’t like negative ads when they’re about his record, but when they come from his campaign it’s a whole different story,” Dutson said. “In 1994 when he was down in the polls, he ran a series of attack ads against Democratic Gov. Joe Brennan. These attack ads weren’t about Gov. Brennan’s record, they were personal attack ads. They attempted to depict Gov. Brennan as old and obsolete, at one point even comparing him to a mummy.
“These weren’t issue ads, they were personal attacks,” he continued. “Now that Angus’ record is finally getting vetted, he seems to have had a sharp change in perspective about negative ads.”
Summers was not present at the Monday morning event. Dutson told reporters the candidate was at work in his job as Maine’s secretary of state. Summers and King are also facing Democrat Cynthia Dill and independents Andrew Ian Dodge, Steve Woods and Danny Dalton.
Kay Rand, King’s Senate campaign manager, said the former governor was reluctant to go negative in 1994 and ultimately regretted running the negative ad.
“We really attempted to use humor to make the comparison,” said Rand, who also ran King’s 1994 campaign. “It’s probably a stretch to call it an attack ad.”
King decided against using negative ads when he ran for re-election in 1998, Rand said, and King won’t use negative ads this campaign season during the race to replace Olympia Snowe in the U.S. Senate.
“The only person running negative ads right now is Charlie Summers and the U.S. Chamber on Charlie’s behalf,” Rand said.
The U.S. Chamber’s $400,000 ad buy launched last month with a television commercial dubbing King the “King of mismanagement” and highlighting that state spending “skyrocketed” to $2.6 billion under his watch.
King supporters countered that the booming economy of the time allowed him to make much-needed and long-overdue investments in infrastructure and business attraction, which the state has since benefited from.
The Summers campaign took the battle a step further Monday, saying the King campaign reaction to the U.S. Chamber ad represents the latest example of the independent former governor “saying one thing, and doing another.”
Dutson said that while King asked his opponents in the Senate race to swear off super-PAC funding — campaign financing from political action committees that can spend unlimited sums as long as they act independently of candidates — King was the first candidate in the race to benefit from super-PAC money.
In May, a group called icPurple Inc. spent nearly $24,000 to produce an online ad supporting King. Ted Watts, founder of computer manufacturer Gateway Inc., founded the independent political action committee. In calling on his opponents to disavow super-PACs, King said he would ask icPurple to remove its ad supporting him.
That’s ancient history now.
OH PLEASE. And I’m sure these same people are fine with a time span of months and days between Romney’s contradictions. Seems like despiration.
Most politicians have changed their position since this morning, let alone since 1994.
I think that this is a huge exaggeration. Yes people change, but why elect someone who doesn’t patently do what they promise?
Hyperbole? Maybe. But answer that question, as well as why do people so often vote against their own best interests and you may be on your way to solving a lot of the problems with our current political environment.
20 years. I’m sure you could find some changes for Summers as well.
Hum along now… “Desperado…”
Somebody should probably do Charlie Summers a favor and remind him that he has zero chance of winning this election. I’d hate to see him get his hopes up for nothing.
Shhh-let him waste his money, Bangorian…it helps the economy.
Early polls are called that for a reason. They indicate levels of name recognition and not much else.
If you ask me, it is the King camp that is sounding desparate today. “The truth will out” as Shakespeare said.
The King camp is desparate? How silly is that danny boy?
The King campaign have NOT put out attack ads. They have NOT employed big buck, out of state, tea infused, Koch backed money and slimy tactics.
The only thing that Charile Summers and the brain trust of MPHC in their desparate move and brilliant tactics is to bring up ads fron 1994?
Where are the original ideas and some concrete plans? The desparate ones here are the MPHC and Charlie. The Summers campaign is pitiful and dirty.
This sounds like another Shakespeare play:
“Much Ado About Nothing”.
Umm, I bet you never thought Paul LaPage would be elected? I really don’t believe a progressive like you will vote for Angus King.
has the BDN had a change of heart?
king was their main man just a few short months ago, with pro-king articles spewing forth from the headlines.
now it seems that they’re actually looking into the facts about king and reporting it, which is good!
I hope the people of maine don’t elect a mistake like him again. although it would be on par with their previous voting records.
stop electing corrupt politicians!
The only flat out mistake the voters can make in this election is a vote for Summers. He is the evil in a bad bunch.
And it’s not like LeSummers, himself, doesn’t say one thing and do another. Let’s just hope he finds enough ballots between now and November. He did say there was a shortage, remember? More like a shortage of truth emanating from his office.
Evil? Charlie Summers? Evil? Mr. Family Man. Mr. Navy Reserves. Mr. Small Business Owner. Mr. Small Business Administration. Mr. State Senator. Mr. Secretary of State? Evil?
If you absurd assertion is at all true, you would think the electorate would have found him out by now.
He has the ethics of a used car salesman. He see’s no conflict of interest in being the Secretary of State presiding over an election in which he is a candidate. Not to mention making up voter fraud issues and the like…
then he’s perfect for this state ;)
Kind of hard to argue with facts.
Why doesn’t Summer say it to King’s face instead of hiding behind his hired hands.
Coward, loser, and tea partier come to mind. He learned well from fellow tea drinker LePage. Take a jab then run and hide while he waits to see if any damamge can be done before he’s called out on his statements.
Headline
Summers and Dutson cry Look Mummy Look!
Why is Charlie running. He wont make it
Sure is nice to see the Former Grand Wizard of the Maine Heritage Policy Center in public. We never saw him when he was Grand Wizard. It’s like they kept him in a closet hidden. Nice he has finally been able to come out isn’t it?
Back to the future? Have anything current?
How about that USCC anti-King carpetbagger ad that’s been running incessantly?
King’s opponents need to wake up and resign from the race. There is no way that government-dependent Mainers will vote for anyone other than King. Despite his advanced years, he will still be able to help ensure that the “Hand-out State” is well fed.
Digging into the WAAAAAY Back Machine the brain trust of the Maine Heritage Policy Center of Far flung lunatic fringers decided that the best course is to attack Angie citing and I quote: “ He did it, so why can’t we?”
Referencing some ads from 1994….
Not realizing that the bulk of Mainers are not the idiotic short sighted morons after all, the MHPC underestimated the ability of the bulk of Mainers to actually identify the difference between a cow patty from an actual fact.
Charlie Summers, depending on his Koch infused advisors, (who still cannot tell the difference between a low tide smell and actual cow patties) was urged to slip into a political mire thus risk losing the election.
Meanwhile back at the Long Lie Tea Texas Ranch, while serving tea abd crumpets and discussing the failure, the brain trust of big buckaroos were overheard as saying, I thought those people in Maine were just clam diggers, lobstermen, and sellers of tourist trinkets. What happened?”
hahaahahahha Is this the absolute best they could do? hahahahahah WHEW!!!
How is it news that politicians are hypocrites, liars, selfish, and greedy?
I thought this was common knowledge?
MHPC = Manufacturing Heated Political Controversies
Spoken like a campaign that knows it is way behind.
Too bad the media isn’t giving any time to Steve Woods – he sounds like he may be an actual Independent and have some reasonable thoughts on how to move this country forward.
Ha Ha!! The irony of Lance “The Hack” Dutson defending poor ol’ Joe Brennan, now THAT’s rich!! Charlie “Suzanne” Summers is doomed with this tadpole running his campaign. Dutson’s also sort of like Mike Chitwood in the sense that he never met a microphone or a camera that he didn’t like. Too bad the cameras don;t feel the same way. Hey Lancey-poo, you’ve got a face for radio — do yourself a favor and keep it there.
King nearly doubled the state budget in eight years, made his money in wind power at the risk of not his but taxpayer money, and supports the loathesome Obama and Obamacare.
Summers says what he does and does what he says.
”Nuff said!
Not nuff said. Please inform all of us of sir charles’s wonderful works for the citizens of Maine and how long he has spoken with a golden tongue. I wait on bended knee.
Could you move over a little I want to hear this too.
Can you give any examples of “Summers says what he does and does what he says.”??? Really, any at all.
Don’t worry Lance you can always fire up the Maine Web Distort again. HA HA HA HA!!! You just slay me with this crap from 18 years ago. If that’s all you got, you’re even more doomed than I imagined.
Somes like the wax man is getting fired up and ready to jump in the fire. We know what happens next.
I have assumed for many years now, that there’s not a politician alive that dosen’t “say one thing, and do another”!
Dutson and Charlie Summers are both pathetic little snipers.
Summers WHO??????
The BDN simply repeats that claim in the US Chamber advertisement without reporting on whether it’s true or not:
The U.S. Chamber’s $400,000 ad buy launched last month with a television
commercial dubbing King the “King of mismanagement” and highlighting
that state spending “skyrocketed” to $2.6 billion under his watch.
The US Chamber is using the General Fund History to make its claim. But when King took office in 1995, total expenditures were $1,686,997,648. Eight years later, $2,583,684,236 – and increase of 38.3%, during a time of incredible national and state prosperity.
Hey, a sign that a politician can grow up in a decade or two? The apocalypse is nigh . . .