By Chris Ryan
It's the ugliest race in New Hampshire's recent political history, and New England residents will be thrilled when neither Kelly Ayotte or Joyce Craig are popping up on their TV's or devices in less than three weeks.
According to WMUR's study of the FCC filings the Ayotte campaign and the NHGOP has spent $10.1 million on TV ads and Craig along with the NH Dems have spent $4.4 million, so far.
Those ads have blanketed New Hampshire, and have also run on station in Boston, Burlington, and Portland.
The themes are pretty simple.
According to Ayotte, Craig is the failed Mayor of Manchester who according to the ads turned the Queen City into a third world country. Oh, and Craig never met a tax increase she didn't like.
Conversely Craig portrays Ayotte as a corporate aligned charlatan who's become a multi-millionaire off of her connections from being a U.S. Senator and will do or say anything to get elected.
As I've mentioned on the show, I've had a huge problem with how Ayotte's ads have literally crapped on Manchester and our state.
New Hampshire has a great story to tell, and I've watched Jeanne Shaheen, John Lynch and Chris Sununu win election after election by shining a light on what's amazing about this state.
Ayotte decided to used a potty-mouthed barkeep and actual feces to trash her opponent, but in doing so decided to put our blemishes out there for all to see. If you were thinking of going to a show at the SNHU Arena, and you see that ad, are you going out for a bite to eat before or after? If you were thinking of moving into the mills to work in the thriving biotech industry, do you have second thoughts?
I'm a huge believer in truth telling and when I first started at iHeart, I went out to see what was going on first hand. Still do. There are a lot of individuals struggling with addiction and mental health issues. I went to the tent city. I've seen the resettlement efforts.
They were a part of the reality, but they weren't the entire reality, as they're portrayed in the spots.
I've also seen the same things as I've traveled the region, and country from Concord to Lewiston to Boston to Dallas.
Joyce Craig's record on this should be fair game, but these ads don't point to any particular policies or individualized failures. It's generalized blame for a homelessness situation that is largely symbolic of statewide and nationwide issues.
One of the things I worry about the most after this campaign is what the public confidence will be in either of these indviduals to govern following the brutal nature of this race where both candidates seem more eager to tear the other down than prop themselves up.
What sort of a mandate will they have? The NH Governor is already (arguably) the weakest in the nation. There's a lot of work to be done and a lot of promises to be kept.
Chris Ryan is the host of New Hampshire Today on iHeart NH's news/talk stations from 6-9a weekdays. His "Trail Bites" column drops each Wednesday afternoon.