Iowa State Sen. Joni Ernst, who is trying to grab the GOP nomination for Iowa’s open US Senate seat, released a new TV ad this week in the hopes of grabbing some mainstream attention. Ernst’s previous ad went viral due to her stating that she used to castrate hogs and that she’d “make ’em squeal” in Washington when elected. Since then, Ernst has become a Tea Party darling in this race and received an endorsement from none other than one Sarah Palin. Her new ad is an attempt to up the ante by showing her shoot a pistol at a target while a narrator says she is taking aim at Obamacare and that she never misses.
First, let’s take a look at her first ad from late March:
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Now, let’s go ahead and show how’s she’s grown into a ‘serious and mature’ candidate with her latest ad:
Ugh. This ad comes across more like a SNL skit than an actual campaign ad. It doesn’t border on self-parody; it crosses all the way over. The over-the-top narration, Ernst riding up to a shooting range on a motorcycle, the slow-motion walking, the pulling out of the pistol, the overemphasis on the word ‘Obamacare,’ the shooting of the gun, the focus on the target while saying that Ernst doesn’t miss…all of this is just red meat for the far-right. She wants them to see that she is the most extreme candidate and that she hates Obama way more than all of the other GOP candidates.
Ernst is going to get attention for this ad, just like she did for the previous one. It is quite possible that she’ll even be able to carry that over to winning the GOP nomination and facing of against Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley. A poll from mid-April showed her in the lead among a crowded GOP field, but just barely and with only 23% of the vote. This ad may not hurt her with the conservative base of the GOP, and will likely help her, but it can be used against her (along with the castration one) if she finds herself in the general election. Moderates and independents will be hard-pressed to take her seriously after these two ads.
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
