Cyberspace Serves As Battleground For Lt. Governor Candidates
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - With less than two weeks to go before election day, candidates for Lt. Governor were turning up their attacks on one another.
KCBS' Barbara Taylor Reports:
YouTube appeared to be the go-to place for Democratic San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and his Republican rival, Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado as they made their final appeals to voters.
Both campaigns posted videos online this week. Neither video minced words.
Newsom's latest ad criticized Maldonado's ownership of a controversial family farm.
"Lt. Governor Abel Maldonado's family farm in Santa Maria has racked up some violations from the state's workplace safety department," the ad quoted a news report. "According to the Los Angeles Times, the company ... has accumulated violations that put farm workers in danger."
That video appeared just two days after the Maldonado camp unleashed a new ad of its own, which included negative comments about Newsom, from some of his former political consultants.
It wasn't the first time Maldonado turned to YouTube to attack his challenger.
"It took a triple murder for Mayor Gavin Newsom to admit San Francisco's Sanctuary City policies were a misguided and costly mistake," one Maldonado video declared.
"Gavin Newsom. Too extreme for California. Paid for by Abel Maldonado for Lt. Governor, 2010."
It was no surprise that the candidates posted attack ads online - a medium that was not only free, but readily accessible to a wide audience.
By all accounts, it was also a medium that would continue to be employed in the remaining days before the Nov. 2 election.
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