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Williams / Farmer Getting Outside Ad Help

By Associated Press

Louisville, KY – A group aiming to increase the nation's ranks of Republican governors bolstered GOP candidate David Williams on Monday by launching a television ad trying to link Kentucky's sluggish job market to Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear.

In its ad, the Republican Governors Association points to job losses under Beshear's stewardship and says: "Kentucky needs a new direction" in touting Williams, the state Senate President, in his challenge to the incumbent.

RGA spokesman Mike Schrimpf said in a statement that Kentucky has a higher jobless rate than all its neighbors.

"While nearly every state has suffered during the economic downturn, few have fared worse than Kentucky," he said.

Kentucky's unemployment rate in May fell to 9.8 percent, the first time it's been below double digits since early 2009. Kentucky has been hard hit by the deep national recession and the sluggish recovery

Without offering specifics, Schrimpf called it a significant ad buy for a spot running statewide ahead of the November general election.

The ad from the deep-pocketed RGA comes after Beshear staked out a clear fundraising advantage over Williams heading into the general election campaign, according to campaign finance reports released last month.

Beshear's campaign has run TV ads for several weeks, and the latest reminded voters that he cut his own salary, sold unneeded state airplanes and slashed more than $1 billion in spending to help deal with the effects of the national economic downturn.

Democrats took immediate aim at the RGA's claim that Williams has fought wasteful state spending.

State Democratic Party Chairman Dan Logsdon said the state legislative budget has increased by 32 percent since Williams became Senate president. Logsdon said Williams approved spending for costly office renovations for lawmakers.

"No television ad can erase David Williams' shameful past of out-of-control spending," Logsdon said.

Republicans control the state Senate while Democrats are in charge of the House.

Beshear's campaign promptly used the RGA ad as a fundraising tool in making a fresh appeal to supporters.

"In the face of this new campaign, we are going to need to increase our television budget and make sure that we go toe-to-toe with the efforts by the national Republican Party" to defeat the Democratic governor, Beshear campaign manager Bill Hyers said.

University of Kentucky political scientist Stephen Voss said the summertime ad shows Republicans see opportunity to pick up a governorship, but also might reflect some unease with Williams' current position in his bid to unseat Beshear.

"If they don't do something to shake up the race, they're going to squander what otherwise could be one of the better opportunities the GOP has," Voss said.

Voss said the early round of political advertising could make more of an impression with voters than late in the campaign, when the ads will be much more plentiful.

"Seeing a political ad now doesn't lead to that immediate negative reaction," he said. "They know they're probably only going to see one and it'll move on to dish detergent."