DeWhine goes negative early

[Schmajo]

7/15/06
http://www.dispatch.com/news/news.php?story=dispatch/2006/07/15/20060715-E1-04.html

“Using vivid images of smoke pouring from one of the towers of the World Trade Center, Republican Sen. Mike DeWine unleashed a commercial yesterday that charges Democratic challenger Sherrod Brown with casting votes in Congress that could have weakened America’s response to terrorism.

The TV commercial, which also flashed images of the 19 hijackers who took part in the Sept. 11 attack, is an apparent effort by the DeWine campaign to jar Ohio voters into remembering the terrorist attack in New York and suburban Washington and to convince them that the senator will support tougher anti-terrorism measures than Brown, a congressman from Avon.
***
Dennis Eckart, a former Democratic congressman from Cleveland, said, ‘It’s July 15. Mark the date. Today, Mike DeWine acknowledges he is trailing Sherrod Brown in the race for the Senate. Incumbents with leads don’t selectively attack challengers unless they believe they are on the losing end of the voters’ attentions.’
***”