Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton hit the airwaves Tuesday with his first television advertisement in the Democratic race for governor.
The campaign bought time to run ads on broadcast TV through May 7, totally about $400,000, according to Republican operatives. The ad will appear the most in Wilmington and Greensboro, two nontraditional markets, and then Charlotte and Raleigh.
The spot is a riff on Dalton's infamous ad from his lieutenant governor campaign that repeated his name 11 times in 30 seconds -- a ploy to drive up his name recognition, which is electoral gold. The ad goes on to hit Dalton's top two themes: education and jobs with the slogan: "great jobs grow from great schools."
His main rival, former Congressman Bob Etheridge is expected to begin airing ads Monday through the primary election May 8, a $173,000 buy on broadcast TV, GOP operatives say.
