DSCC: ‘Democrats for Lingle’ TV Ad Misleads; Nope, Says Lingle

“Bipartisan” is the buzz word these days and Talking Points Memo catches Lingle casting Republicans in her commercial touting “Democrats for Lingle.”

The Lingle camp, for its part, says there’s no fine print saying all the people featured in the commercial are Dems. But isn’t that the point? 

Capitol Watch reports:

Press release from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee:

Linda Lingle’s campaign released a new ad over the weekend touting “Democrats for Lingle” — a necessity in state Obama will win by 20+ points. The problem is that 7 out of the 8 people featured have either run for office as Republicans, are currently employed by Lingle or served in her administration. For example, the ad features Elaine Slavinsky who ran as a Republican for Hawaii’s State Senate and Jan Shishido, the former Maui Republican Party Chair.

Talking Points Memo is also reporting on the ad. Excerpt:

The ad marks at least the second time this cycle a Republican has cast another Republican to play a Democrat in order to boost their bipartisan bona fides. The RNC released an ad earlier this month in which an RNC staffer pretended to be a disillusioned Obama supporter.

Corrie Heck, a spokesperson for the Lingle campaign, has this response:

What the DSCC ignores is the three very prominent Democrat leaders featured in the spot: a former Democrat state Senator, the former State protocol officer who worked for 5 of Hawaii’s Governors (4 of whom are Democrats), and a self-identified Democrat supporter who plans to vote for President Obama. 

While the spot was labeled “Democrats” during the transfer to the stations, no where in the spot do we state that all individuals featured are Democrats. The spot is about people across the state — from diverse backgrounds, political affiliations and perspectives — that agree Linda Lingle is the clear choice for U.S. Senate. As your research will point out, there are several current and retired public school teachers included in the spot, as well as a native Hawaiian community leader, in addition to the Democrat supporters. These individuals are representative of the broad spectrum of supporters who are backing Linda Lingle for U.S. Senate.