A councilman’s ad, and a tea party Democrat

Philadelphia Republican City Councilman Brian O’Neill is now airing a 30-second TV spot. O’Neill, for decades safely ensconced in his northeast Philadelphia district, is facing an aggressive challenge from Democratic challenger Bill Rubin.

The district is 58 percent Democrat and 33 percent Republican, but O’Neill has held it for eight terms – 32 years.

The ad is an upbeat, smartly-done piece by veteran GOP media consultant Chris Mottola, in which proto-typically northeast Philly-looking citizens extol O’Neill’s virtues. He just smiles, looks busy, and nods. If you count ’em, there are 35 camera cuts in the 30-second ad. You can see it above.

 

An ad has also appeared in the sharply-contested commissioners’ race in Montgomery County. The spot by Democrats Josh Shapiro and Leslie Richards goes hard after Republicans Bruce Castor and Jenny Brown, accusing them of leaving the door open to tax hikes (isn’t this kind of a role reversal?).

You can watch the Democrats’ ad here.

And for extra fun, here’s Shapiro taking a grilling from a reporter about whether he can credibly make a no-tax-hike pledge.

 

And how about this?

The Indpendence Hall Tea Party PAC has endorsed a DEMOCRAT running against Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Bob Casey. He’s Brian Kelly, who announced his candidacy yesterday. This is from the Tea Party press release:

Kelly, a former university professor and noted author of 45 books, faced-off against 13-term incumbent Paul Kanjorski in the 2010 Democratic primary in the PA 11th Congressional District–garnering a significant portion of the vote in a three man race.

“Brian Kelly’s conservative principles and his endorsement from the Independence Hall Tea Party Party PAC, helped him win a large number of votes in his 2010 primary challenge to Democratic Congressman Paul Kanjorski,” said PAC Vice President for PA, Sean Carpenter.

“Mr. Kanjorski was ultimately defeated by Congressman Lou Barletta after he had been weakened in the primary by Mr. Kelly,” Carpenter said.

“We would certainly like to see the underdog, Mr. Kelly, have a similar impact on the 2012 PA US Senate race–if not Mr. Kelly’s outright defeat of Obama clone, Senator Bob Casey, in the Democratic primary.”