So who's the real conservative in the District One Congressional race? Andy Harris lets fly with a reminder:
State Senator Andy Harris today launched his second television ad of the campaign. The ad factually contrasts Andy's conservative record with the liberal records of his two tax-and-spend opponents.
"Being a fiscal conservative means opposing both higher taxes and wasteful government spending," said Andy Harris. "Republicans in Maryland want conservative representation and I am the only conservative in this race."
The ad shows Gilchrest and Pipkin's records as two tax-and-spend peas in a giant liberal pod. E.J. Pipkin voted for Governor O'Malley's budget (HB 50, 2007). Gilchrest voted for over 20 billion dollars in new taxes in one month alone.
The script of the ad is below:
Announcer: E.J. Pipkin is called a "Hero to Democrats" and even supported Governor O'Malley's Budget costing taxpayers billions of dollars.
That's Liberal.
So is Wayne Gilchrest. Gilchrest raised taxes 20 billion dollars in just one month.
That's Liberal.
Pipkin and Gilchrest are two tax-and-spend peas in a giant liberal pod. Too Liberal for us. Fortunately conservatives have Andy Harris. Andy Harris for Congress.
Andy: I'm Andy Harris and I approved this message.
Well, I approve the message too. But there's a question that some have and that is what Andy plans on accomplishing if elected? It's one thing to campaign negatively against your two closest primary opponents, but some of us want to know what you plan on achieving in Washington. Do you plan on being in the district on a regular basis listening to your constituents and the grassroots or will we only see you in even-numbered years?
Then again, fellow MBA blogger Mike Netherland has his own questions for E.J. Pipkin:
I need to know what exactly makes you think that your candidacy will achieve the main goal of throwing the bum out? The way I see it your candidacy virtually guarantees Gilchrest another term. Please convince me that I am wrong.
Remember the poll that Senator Pipkin trumpeted last week? All it noted was that he was second and Andy Harris was third, but Wayne Gilchrest was still on top. If those results were to hold on February 12, it's just a Phyrric victory for conservatives of the First District who only succeeded in showing they were a majority of the voters but keep the same moderate Congressman.
Tomorrow I'll take a look at how much E.J. Pipkin and I see eye-to-eye on the issues.
Crossposted on Red Maryland.