The American Federation of Government Employees on Thursday released two attack advertisements against Mayor Adrian Fenty on YouTube, both of them featuring teddy bears that apparently are supposed to represent Fenty.
The stuffed bears are a bit confusing, but the message is clear: Fenty and his fraternity brothers who get city contracts have to go.
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There’s also a second message: D.C. Council chairman and mayoral hopeful Vince Gray might have a smaller pile of cash, but he has allies who will pay for things like advertisements.
Those allies are going to take the shape of unions, many of which have already sided with Gray. As the campaigns head down the stretch, look for the unions to roll out similar ads attacking Fenty on Gray’s behalf. The influx of spending from groups not associated with the Gray for Mayor campaign will free up the chairman to spend its dollars elsewhere.
The best place would be the get-out-the-vote effort, which is taking on a special role in this year’s campaign due to early voting. Team Fenty is prepared to have vans rolling to the polls when they open Aug. 30, and it’ll keep them running through the Sept. 14 primary.Gray won’t be able to match that even with the outside spending, but it will help.
