Keller: Why all the emphasis on abortion in New Hampshire gubernatorial campaign ads?
The opinions expressed below are Jon Keller's, not those of WBZ, CBS News or Paramount Global.
BOSTON - It's hard to miss those TV ads for the New Hampshire gubernatorial candidates. They've been all over the airwaves for months. And while polls show inflation and the economy are the top issues for voters, another topic is dominating the ad wars.
Abortion dominating campaign ads
"I was three months along in my pregnancy and the doctor couldn't find the heartbeat," recounted former Sen. Kelly Ayotte in an emotional new ad to close out her campaign for governor, ending with a vow: "I would never deny any woman or family of treatment like IVF."
It's an effort to minimize the political damage done by months of attacks by her opponent, former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig.
"As mayor, I supported the largest Planned Parenthood in New Hampshire; Kelly Ayotte spent her career attacking reproductive rights," she said in one commercial.
But Ayotte's defensive ad, one of several she's aired, raises a question: with abortion rights well down the list of New Hampshire voter priorities, why the relentless emphasis on the issue?
Campaign tactic
"This is an old adage, I think in New Hampshire politics, is that if a social issue such as abortion is on the front burner, it tends to divide Republicans and rally Democrats," said political science professor Dante Scala of the University of New Hampshire.
It's a tactic you can see in the presidential race as well. And for Ayotte, these ads are an effort to make sure swing voters in a close race go into the voting booth thinking about other things.
"If they can neutralize the issue and voters can feel as if 'OK, she's not gonna change things,' that gives voters permission to move onto other issues such as taxes and crime on which they might like Ayotte better than Joyce Craig," said Scala.
The conventional wisdom is that the economy will be the number one issue for voters, and obviously it's super important. But why people vote a certain way - especially those less partisan, late-breaking voters who may well decide the outcome - is a complicated question. Some of them may choose based on what's top of mind when they enter the voting booth. And what's going on right now in New Hampshire and elsewhere is a battle to plant that seed.