Hearkening back to the infamous 1988 ad aired by the George H.W. Bush campaign, styled the ‘Willie Horton’, the Alaska race for the U.S. Senate has turned nasty as polls continue to show the candidates tied.
Democrat Senator Mark Begich released an ad over the weekend which attempted to link Republican nominee Dan Sullivan to the release of a convicted sex offender who ultimately was charged in the murder of a grandmother and rape of a 2-year-old girl.
The Sullivan campaign blasted back,
“He is lying to Alaskans and using the murder of an elderly couple and the sexual assault of a two-year-old for his own political gain, and it’s despicable.”
Since the ad aired, the attorney representing the victims in the case publicly called for the ad to be pulled, along with Sullivan’s response ad, out of respect for the victims and that the case is still on-going.
Both campaigns have complied with the request, but not before the mud slinging began. Like the 1988 presidential race, the ad could play a major roll in the ultimate outcome.
Begich has currently fallen behind Sullivan according to recent counts by CBS News/NYT/YouGov and Rasmussen poling.
Alaska is one of the 9-plus toss-up states in the fight for control of the U.S. Senate, along with Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan and North Carolina.
