New Rod Smith TV Ad

Well, Jim Davis may have pulled his TV ads in the wake of Ernesto, but it appears as though the Rod Smith campaign unveiled a new one.

The TV commercial is a three-pack paid for by the Democratic Party and mostly features still pictures of Smith and his family while flashing bits and pieces of newspaper endorsements.

Buzz spotted it Wednesday morning on NBC in West Palm Beach.  A few minutes later, Buzz also spotted commercials touting Ron Klein for U.S. House and later, Katherine Harris, so maybe it's not taboo to run political commercials while a tropical storm is passing.

Link here.

Comments

got a link Jennifer?

I wonder if Jeb is going to come out and accuse Katherine Harris of "exploiting" this hurricane like he did to Davis a few months back.

did sugar buy this one too??

if Rod Smith were placed on a coffee table, people might confuse him for Sweet-N-Low.

Sweet from U.S. Sugar and still Low in the polls.

I didn't think it was possible to have a less effective ad than the helicopter one. Is it time for ad agency #4?

I am surprised that the media has given Rod Smith a free pass on the 527 collaboration. He was indignant in 2000, when an outside group accentuated the fact that he was a "dead beat dad". The facts were correct but Smith gave a professional tear jerker show to the media as if he were performing before a Jury.
Walking out on a wife and new born without providing them sustenance is more of a character flaw than the other contenders for this office.
I am touched that his son and former wife have issued their forgiveness, but the fact remains that our state is plagued with dead beat dads and this is not the role model that we desire for our state.

i don't know that it is the worst one yet, but it is definitely not an 11 points 6 days ad.

Great Ad, Rod. The best one yet!

At least Rod has the money to stay on the air.. you can't tell me Davis didn't come down because of lack of funds... the Tropical Storm ...*so the weather channel says, we have worse thunderstorms down here* ...was just an excuse to pull his ads and save some cash... The Davis camp is looking in the cracks of their couches to find change to make pay roll!

I hope they didn't let Bascom and the Kamikaze pilots do this ad too.

The helicopter ad was bad enough and is being ridiculed with a Davis response ad in Orlando.

09:51 AM
You must be Charlie Crist, you didn't even see the ad did you?
you were just having a wet dream about running against Smith

Davis is lacking money... its why he pulled the ad...

9:56 - did you not read where the post said this is a three-pack ad funded by the party, because Rod is one step away from begging for change on a street corner?

Davis outraised him by leaps and bounds, and is the one who will have the resources and organization to pull him to victory on Tuesday.

Get serious.

Rod makes a new one. Davis pulls his. It's tough when you can't run ads during the last week before the primary isn't it Davis camp?

3-PAC ad from the party IS money raised by a campaign moron. Oh, wait. That's earmarking and the money nobody talks about. The FDP isn't giving out freebies Smith had to have raised FDP "soft" money to put the 3-PAC ad. Learn the rules before you start saying Smith is out of money.

You folks are a hoot. 3-Pac, 6-pac, 12-pac… what’s the difference. Smith’s helicopter ad sucked, I’ll give you that, but every ad since has been direct, substantive, and speaks to the issues on the minds of voters in Florida.

I like a candidate who speaks for himself, rather than one who tosses a football (staged) with his kids while a voice-over, or a throwback tells you how great he is.

Keep it up Rod! I’d rather have Sweet-n-Low, than soft-serve vanilla ice cream.

GO ROD!

No, Geller and his cronies are putting all their money into Smith instead of their candidates, know that Justice and Jennings will get pummeled. Geller might as well buy himself a governor, otherwise he will be irrelevant with his band of 13.

Davis hasn't pulled ads anywhere but South Florida and it was because of the storm. Bet your bottom dollar they'll be back up. I love when interns at Smith's campaign speculate.

And by the way, ROD IS BROKE, NOT JIM. Rod has sugar money, not hard money.

Don't get confused and think your guy is ethical or credible.

He's stealing from his $ugar daddy.

Geller and Coker are the only two who are keeping Smith afloat. Geller via 3-pack and Coker via 527 activity.

Geller is smart to try to pull this off, it would make him a major player.

Coker made a fatal mistake.

Rod is rolling in soft money -- he could afford to run ads from now to the end of time, paid for the party, which means paid for by soft money he raised.

Jim, on the other hand, is broke as a joke. Even the 527 put together to support him has no money. It's really quite sad.

You people need to give it up with the sugar thing already. All agricultural interests in this state are anti-Davis because of his record in Congress. Big Sugar just happens to be agriculture with money, and they will support whoever they need to to SINK Ship Davis. Smith has no control over it and has already apologized for their activities.

For those of us trying to keep small farmers afloat in this state, per the grand Democratic tradition, we say GO BIG SUGAR! Send that worthless beaurocrat back to Tampa!

Selling the pulling of the ads in south Florida as a “caring move during a storm” is pathetic. It’s a cost measure.

Speculating that Smith is barely “keeping afloat” is amateurish at best. This is a race, period. Doesn’t matter who’s got what money, or frankly, where it came from. The average voter doesn’t give a rats a##.

Lieberman was a tell folks. Democratic voters are tired of being the whipping post of the Republicans and their “Rovettes”. We want strength, pride, loyalty, solid candidates with good vision, and the ability to stand on our own.

Oh, and 10:21,

“Don't get confused and think your guy is ethical or credible.”

Might I suggest Windex to clean that glass house you and you’re boy Jimbo are living in!

US SUGAR is not helping SMALL FARMS!

They are the REASON small farmers are having trouble!

If it's a tell, and we don't want "rovettes" why would we vote for the Republican in the Democratic Primary?!?!

10:36 if US Sugar keeps Jim Davis from getting the nomination, they will be helping small farms, labor, and the people of Florida in General.

Great ad!!!

Since Davis pulled his ads in south Florida, the only democratic ads up are Rod Smiths.

On top of that everyone spent is inside watching TV.

It looks like Rod Smith will have a real advantage in South Florida.

Pulling the ads in South Florida was another bone-head move by a bone-head campaign.

It's almost like the people driving the Davis bus are afraid someone might actually vote for their guy.

Jim Davis has the money, but where the hell is it? You can't take it with you if you lose, Jim.

Here in Tallahassee, Rod's great new ad is running frequently, as is the negative anti- Davis ad paid for by Sugar. We're seeing Davis's ads run a fifth as often as Rod's. How can you say the Smith camp is out of funds?

I hear the bell tolls...

Does anyone have a link to the new ad?

I have never seen such disinterest and disattachment in the Democratic primary. This is atrocious.

http://rodsmith2006.com/blog/archives/new_ad_endorsement/

That's all you got?

It seems there are more smith ads running than davis ads, but in a low turnout primary does that really do the candidates good?

Hey is it true i heard Davis advertised on the weather channel (I am being serious)

Honestly, if i was davis i would hang onto my money for after the primary. At this point he seems to be winning. I don't think a barrage of new ads by Senator Smith will help him if he is polling 11 points behind in the last week of the election.

If smith were to get the nomination, how is he going to compete with Crist financially. There are other bigger pickups for governors races than Florida so I don't see the money flowing into florida. Davis should not waste his money like smith. Although is it a waste of money for senator smith if he needed desperately to get his name out there before the primary and he did.

"There are other bigger pickups for governors races than Florida"

Arguably, the dumbest comment blogged with a straight face.

11:26, i think 11:23 meant that states like New York, Mass., Maryland, etc. are all bigger potentials for pick ups. Not pbigger than size

I happen to agree. The money will not flow in if lets say a betty castor (statewide candidate) were running. Maybe a congressman will be able to get more money nationwide into florida but I don't know.

"I happen to agree."

Arguably the second dumbest comment blogged with a straight face. Think 2008, think electoal college people.

I like the ad - the endorsements - you can't argue with the facts folks. Rod Smith has proved time and again that he doesn't run from the "big bad majority" - he works with them for the better of Florida as a whole.

Evidently Davis supporters are not a big fan of dailykos or MyDD - their book "Crashing the Gate" shows us how focusing on one issue is why the Dems have lost so badly over the past 30 years. Florida is a big state with a wide variety of issues and Rod Smith has proved by his record that he keeps all of those issues in mind when making a vote or fight.

11:36&11:23, The Party in charge of the governor's mansion gets an automatic 4 point bounce in a presidential race. It is vital that Florida become a Blue state. Money will pour into the state for both parties gubernatorial candidates.

[gatordem]

My how amusing it is to hear all the Rod Squatters squeal . 11 points down (at least) with 5 days to go. You guys still math challenged over there?
Me thinks thou dost protest too much. All that screeching sounds like rats scurrying for a way off the sinking ship.

BTW, I thought Rod's "home" was in West Palm for the campaign. Now a little tropical storm comes along and he cuts and runs "home" to Alachua? What's up with that? Rod, if you are ever in the State EOC with a real storm coming, there will be no place to cut and run to!

[Scribe]

If all it took to win elections this year was money, the Republicans would be lighting up their victory cigars already. We Democrats have an outstanding opportunity to stop their corruption and power mongering. Our weapon is the substance of our arguments, our solutions and how we're going to accomplish them. That's been Rod Smith's campaign and that's why he's going to win. All I hear out of Davis supporters are attacks. That apparently is the only way you think you can win because you don't discuss what Davis has to offer and his accomplishments.

12:17 PM
You are delusional and disconnected from reality

If these polls are good news for Rod, how come there is NO mention of them on his site like there use to be every time a poll came out!

Well put, scribe, well put. Now that's a Democrat talking there folks...

Davis attacks?

um...... us sugar... calling davis racist.... saying he is pro-hezbollah.... c'mon. You must have better Kool Aid on your side of the aisle.

Maybe that's where Rod's money went--his Kool Aid party at Mons Venus when he filmed his first ad. Sell the flat screen and get a new campaign manager Rod. I doubt Paul will want to work for you in your attempt to run for County Commissioner next year.

12:25 PM
Charile, get out there and make some phone calls

Yeah, you sugar squaders just keep thinking Jim Davis is out of money. If I were you, I would go ahead and start the party now. I mean, you might as well have a 5 day kegger before reality comes crashing down on you Sept 5th.

...and don't worry about the bill...sugar daddy will pick up the tab.

The Rod Smith Supporters will leave the Davis Campaign the Keg Beer. They are used to it, being a bunch of rookie college grads... the Rod Squad will be be drinking champagne in the Gov's Mansion.

No one inside Smith headquarters could have hoped for much more than has happened so far. Davis had better name recognition to start with, and got a lot more money raised for his effort.

They could have hoped for a big Davis misstep, but that didn't happen. Now it is down to who really did their homework.

Bush was celebrating being Governor in 1994 when Chiles team launched its witching hour strategy. The Smith team (aka the Chiles team) is once again down to the wire.

I wonder - just wonder - if they once again will snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Since I already voted in the Republican primary and it is already decided for Crist (might have had to vote Democratic if Gallagher won), I don't care one way or the other, but as a political observer, I am very interested in how the strategists on both sides will deploy their reserve capital.

I really like this stuff. Let the entertainment begin.

11:36&11:23 WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The AFL-CIO announced Wednesday it will spend $40 million on get-out-the-vote operations for the midterm elections in an effort to try to drive congressional Republicans from power as well as win governorships in 21 states across the country. I imagine Florida is on that list.

[Scribe]

Yesterday, the Miami Herald had an article that I notice none of you Davis people thought to refer to since it demonstrates what a hypocrite your candidate is. So here:

Rivals draw line in the Glades

"One of the Democrats running for governor once voted for an Everglades cleanup bill so reviled by activist Marjory Stoneman Douglas that she took her name off it. Environmentalists assailed what became the Everglades Forever Act as a giveaway to the sugar industry.

The candidate was Jim Davis, who as a member of the Florida Legislature approved the controversial 1994 bill. Yet he's been raising hackles about his opponent for governor, state Sen. Rod Smith, voting for the measure, backed by the sugar industry, when it returned to the Legislature in 2003.
Davis is likely to continue that line of attack -- without mentioning his own vote -- through the final stretch of the Sept. 5 primary campaign. Davis also opposed a penny tax on sugar proposed in 1996 to help pay for Everglades restoration."

[wazzamattaU]

Aren't there 'dead beat' MOMs, too?