Walter Dalton's campaign sent an email Thursday with a intriguing subject line: "Watch Walter's new ad." But it didn't live up to its billing.
The "ad" is a one minute and 19 second long web video dubbed "25 Small Towns." It is not appearing anywhere on TV as a campaign ad.
The Democrat is late to the TV ad wars in the governor's race compared to his rival Republican Pat McCrory, who bought time to air commercials earlier this month through the November election. The Raleigh political parlor game is trying to guess when the Democrat will launch his TV campaign given his meager fundraising compared to McCrory.
Dalton's campaign bought TV time in October but vows to start airing advertisements before then. When? They say "in coming weeks." The ads are key to Dalton getting his name before voters, many of whom don't know him or his record.
In the video, Dalton talks about his passion for small communities -- like the one where he grew up in Spindale -- and says it inspires him to run for governor. (First clue it wasn't on TV: It's too long for most ad slots and possibly too expensive for Dalton's campaign right now.)
