Tim Pawlenty ad on thin ice
Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty's latest campaign ad is about overcoming challenges. It turns out the ad may present a challenge all its own to the campaign.
ABC Sports and ESPN were considering sending the Pawlenty campaign a cease-and-desist letter for using their footage of the legendary 1980 "Miracle on Ice" hockey game in the ad, the Des Moines Register reports.
The ad, called "The American Comeback," shows the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team defeating the U.S.S.R. and suggests that Pawlenty is the underdog of the Republican primary. Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, played hockey in high school and still plays occasionally.
ABC Sports and ESPN told the Register that they have not asked the Pawlenty campaign to take down the footage, though neither company authorized use of the footage.
The Pawlenty campaign said the footage was carefully reviewed for legal compliance. "We respect ABC's concern and look forward to responding to their inquiry," Pawlenty spokesman Alex Conant told the Register.
The theme of the ad isn't surprising, given the trajectory of Pawlenty's campaign so far. He was one of the first candidates to officially enter the race but has not made much traction. He came in sixth place in the Des Moines Register poll of Republican candidates late last month and has trailed in polls since then.
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Following the Des Moines Register poll, Pawlenty demonstrated his penchant for sports analogies on CBS' "The Early Show," where he downplayed the poll and said, "This is like the warm ups or the pre-season, and now the real season's going to be starting."
In the first real campaign fundraising quarter of the primary season, Pawlenty raised only $4.2 million, falling short of his campaign's $4.5 million goal and well below the more than $18 million Mitt Romney raised.
The recent, temporary shutdown of the Minnesota government also created a challenge for Pawlenty, since it put new focus on his record as governor and the fact that he also oversaw a temporary shutdown in the state. Pawlenty, however, has tried to put a positive spin on the shutdown, and does so again in his "American Comeback" ad.
"We need a leader with a proven record, not just rhetoric," he says in the ad. "I shut down a government and won." At the end of the ad, he says, "Join me and prove the experts wrong."
Pawlenty's campaign could face a turning point on August 13, the date of the influential Ames Straw Poll in Iowa.
