Ads Targeting Pawlenty Ahead Of August Primaries
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- We're in the midst of campaign season. The first major contest is in two weeks, on the Aug. 14 primary.
Several political ads have been placed on both TV and radio.
The campaigns were ramping up the attacks on Wednesday. The hotly-contested governor's race appears to be the biggest focus for the last two weeks. And former Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty is the biggest target.
Democrats and Republicans going after the former Governor. Republican Jeff Johnson declaring himself the true conservative in the race.
And DFL Governor candidate Tim Walz looking right past the primary, and hitting Pawlenty for education cuts he made when he was governor.
"I was teaching high school when Tim Pawlenty was Governor. I remember adding seven more desks when we crammed seven more students into the classroom," the ad said. "Tim Pawlenty gave us higher spending and massive fee increases when he was governor. Tim had his chance -- and he blew it."
Jeff Johnson is the endorsed Republican candidate for governor, and calls himself the "true conservative" in the race. Mounting this furious last-minute TV campaign against Pawlenty.
So is Pawlenty considered to be leading in this race?
There's no public polling to give us any idea of how this race is going. Former Gov. Pawlenty, who's been working in Washington for the last eight years, jumped into the race late.
And he's hitting hard on illegal immigration, including this tough new ad on Wednesday.
"As governor, I'll stop this. I'll make sure people who get government benefits actually qualify for them, and that they are here legally," Pawlenty said in the ad.
Pawlenty has been generally ignoring all of his challengers, and hitting hard on illegal immigration, open borders and sanctuary cities.