Gabriel Gomez
Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, Gabriel Gomez talks to media after a debate sponsored by WBZ-TV and The Boston Globe, Wednesday, April 10, 2013 in Boston. Whoever attracts the most votes will face the winner of the Democratic primary pitting Congressmen Edward Markey and Stephen Lynch against each other. (AP Photo/The Boston Globe, Barry Chin, Pool)
With an eye to the general election campaign which will commence following next Tuesday's primary, a conservative super PAC is boosting Gabriel Gomez's U.S. Senate ambitions.
In the second radio ad paid for by the Medford-based Committee for a Better Massachusetts, an exchange between a doorman and a prospective voter talks up Gomez, a political newcomer, while branding Democratic U.S. Rep. and Senate hopeful Ed Markey as a lifelong politician.
As the doorman rings the woman's doorbell to let her know there is a political candidate at the door, she says "It's not that Ed Markey fellow is it? He's been around Washington forever. I'm not home."
The doorman says that Gomez is at the door and he goes on to describe the candidate as the fiscally conservative "new Republican" he's described himself as, before the woman gives permission for Gomez to come on up.
Committee for a Better Massachusetts ad: 'Doorman'
According to Eric Fehrnstrom, a former top advisor to ex-Massachusetts governor and presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, the ad, which he helped craft, is the latest salvo in an ad campaign that's spanned three weeks at the cost of about $25,000 a week.
Fehrnstrom said the ads have been running on conservative talk shows and time slots around the morning and afternoon drives to a targeted audience.
The first ad the super PAC ran also took aim at Markey as one of "the same old politicians," considering he's been in Congress since 1976 when Gomez was "in Little League," as he frequently puts it.
A recent poll conducted by the Western New England University Polling Institute for The Republican/MassLive.com and CBS-3 Springfield concluded that while Markey is leading over his Democratic competitor U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch by a 10-point margin, Gomez has a slight lead over GOP Senate hopeful Michael Sullivan. Both Republicans were holding a significant lead over Republican state Rep. Daniel Winslow.
Markey and Lynch signed the so-called "People's Pledge" in February, which financially penalizes a candidate if a third party advertises on specific media to their benefit or their opponent's detriment. Despite the agreement, outside groups have interjected, including one that has flown anti-Lynch banners from airplanes over Boston.
The Republican candidates have not signed such an agreement.
