In business and politics, they say you have seven seconds to make a first impression.
It takes Iowa Republican Senate candidate
Joni Ernst about that long to make an immediate impact in a campaign ad she released this week in which she compares the unpleasantness of fiscal conservatism to animal castration.
Ernst's pitch to voters is classic in its imagery: I castrate pigs with a smile so I am the perfect conservative for Iowa to send to Washington to cut pork.
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The ad is Ernst's first before the June 3 Republican primary. In the spot, the state legislator and veteran of the 2003 Iraq war appeals to conservative primary voters while also knocking Democratic candidate Bruce Braley, whom she links to Obamacare.
According to
Politico, Ernst is the popular pick among Republicans but has struggled with fundraising. In the last quarter of 2013, she raised just $203,000 and has just $290,000 in hand. In comparison, Braley raised $1 million over the same span, increasing his war chest to $2.6 million. A March 13
Quinnipiac poll shows Braley with a 13-point lead over Ernst.
Given the nature of the race, Ernst needed an ad that, in this age of 30-second viral Internet clips, could effectively tell voters that what Iowa needs is a woman with a knife to fix things.
"Let's make 'em squeal," she announces.
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