Coats taking campaign to airwaves, while Ellsworth pulls ads

By Deanna Martin

INDIANAPOLIS — Republican Dan Coats will start airing his first general election television ad Friday, while his Democratic opponent for Indiana’s open U.S. Senate seat — Rep. Brad Ellsworth — has taken his two commercials off the air.

Coats campaign spokesman Pete Seat said the former senator’s first ad will run Friday, but would give no other details about Coats’ first commercial since the May 4 primary.

The Ellsworth campaign said its decision to no longer run the two television ads was a strategic choice, and that more commercials for the Democrat will air later.

But Republicans called the move a sign that Ellsworth was having fundraising trouble. Experts said it was too early to tell.

Ellsworth’s first two ads were aimed at gaining name recognition for the former Vanderburgh County sheriff, who is serving his second term in Congress. They featured Ellsworth talking about his time as sheriff and included subtle digs at Coats for being a former lobbyist.

The ads, which ran in about two-thirds of the state, aired for about six weeks before being taken down last week. Ellsworth campaign spokeswoman Liz Farrar said the commercials worked and that more people now know and like Ellsworth. She said the campaign will have the cash it needs to make sure voters know “the story of both candidates.”

“We’ll be back on the air as the campaign progresses,” Farrar said.

Ellsworth’s campaign would not say how much it spent on the two ads, but state GOP chairman Murray Clark estimates they cost the Ellsworth campaign at least $600,000 — about half of the $1.2 million Ellsworth had on hand at the end of June. Coats had about $1 million on hand during the period that ended June 30.

Clark said Ellsworth must not have gotten the results his campaign expected from the ads running in a traditionally Republican state during what is expected to be a Republican year.

“They’ve spent way down with little if any results to show from it,” Clark said. “They may tell you they’re preserving resources, but that’s code for ‘We’re out of money.’”

Political analysts said it’s too soon to say whether Ellsworth’s decision to pull the ads is a sign of trouble or just a pause before returning with more commercials.

“You can’t infer very much,” said James McCann, a Purdue University political science professor.

Brian Vargus, a political science professor at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, pointed out that the Ellsworth campaign hasn’t shown other signs of running out of cash, such as cutting staff.

If Coats’ new ad runs in much of the state, it could force Ellsworth to respond with an ad of his own soon, Vargus said.

“His campaign at this time is reactive, rather than proactive,” Vargus said of Ellsworth. “What he needs to do is actually gain back the momentum where he’s the proactive candidate.”

Coats and Ellsworth are vying for the Senate seat held by Democrat Evan Bayh, who announced earlier this year that he would retire.