Roy Blunt, Feeling the Heat, Pretends He's Not in Congress

FiredUp Missouri asked last week if Roy Blunt would have to hit the airwaves early because of the momentum Republican Primary challenger Chuck Purgason was gaining. I guess the answer is "Yes" as Blunt is set to put out his first Senate campaign ad next week:



Several people have noticed an interesting feature of the ad.

CQ Politics:

Maybe everybody in Missouri already knows that Senate candidate Roy Blunt has been working on Capitol Hill for just short of 14 years. Blunt's new campaign commercial doesn't mention his expertise as a Washington insider at all...

What Blunt doesn't say in his first statewide commercial: He is a member of Congress, and more -- for part of the time when Republicans had control, he was majority leader.

FiredUp Missouri:

Politico's Dave Catanese reports this morning that Blunt's first television ad makes no mention of his ignominious record in the Washington GOP leadership:

As you'll see, it's quite different from Blunt's last competitive election, in which he emphasized his many years in the GOP leadership and "links to the [existing] leadership's system of power and favors."

Politico:

The 30-second spot, which begins running statewide Tuesday, places Blunt on a farm and never mentions his seven terms in Congress or his party.

It's the clearest signal to date that while Blunt managed to escape a highly competitive primary challenge in a restless cycle, he still has work to do with a portion of his base which remains unsettled by his prolific earmarking, prominent role in the bank bailout and deep ties to Washington.

Why, it's almost as if Roy Blunt thinks he's Chuck Purgason!