A national group opposed to gay marriage on Monday launched 30-second ads attacking Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tom Campbell for his stance against Proposition 8, the 2008 voter-approved initiative to define marriage in the state constitution as between a man and a woman.
The New Jersey-based National Organization for Marriage said it is spending $275,000 on ads that suggest Campbell, a moderate Republican, is not much different from "liberal Barbara Boxer." The ads are largely airing on cable television with large numbers of Republican voters, including the Sacramento region, San Diego County and Orange County, according to NOM executive director Brian Brown.
They are first television ads to air for or against any of the U.S. Senate candidates in California this year. Brown said NOM paid for the ads as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, which is not required to disclose its donors.
The NOM ad makes two points about Campbell's positions last year supporting some temporary tax hikes to help offset a $40 billion budget deficit, suggesting that his tax views are little different from Boxer's. The ad's final point is that Campbell opposed Proposition 8, like Boxer.
In early polls, Campbell has been leading the three-way GOP Senate primary over former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore. Both of Campbell's opponents say they oppose gay marriage.
"It was important for us to get this up because he has high name I.D. from his public service early in his career and from running for governor," Brown said. "I think he's avoided talking about his extreme liberal positions."
Campbell at this weekend's state GOP convention in Santa Clara said he is a "fiscal conservative" with a track record as a congressman of opposing higher taxes. He has differentiated his positions on last year's state budget -- which he offered as a gubernatorial candidate at the time -- from his views on the federal budget situation. He said that because the state must balance its budget and cannot print money, unlike the federal government, the alternatives to temporary tax hikes last year were even greater cuts to education.
"Tom Campbell and Barbara Boxer couldn't be further apart on fiscal issues," said Campbell spokesman Jamie Fisfis. "The ad seems to be grasping at straws to make a point that can't be made. Their real agenda is the gay rights issue, and Tom has always said that on grounds of liberty he opposed Proposition 8."
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