RGA spends big money to attack Dalton in first TV ad of governor's race

UPDATED: The Republican Governors Association launched a TV ad in the governor's race Tuesday seeking to hit Walter Dalton at his weakest point, just after a primary battle that forced him to spend most of his small campaign coffer.

The ad is running in the Triad, Raleigh and Greenville at a cost of $865,000 with most on broadcast television through June 3, according to media buyers. (Points breakdown: 820 in Greensboro/Winston-Salem, 750 in Raleigh and 490 in Greenville.)

The ad ties Dalton to the unpopular Gov. Bev Perdue and put the tax label on the candidate, reiterating a theme the N.C. Republican Party has been using for months with its "BevPart2" initiative. The cost of the buy is more than Dalton raised in the first four months of 2012. But the Democratic Governors Association is expected to help him fight the battle by attacking GOP nominee Pat McCrory.

Dalton's campaign responded in a statement: “Clearly, national Republicans are worried because Walter Dalton is the one candidate with a positive plan to create jobs now and in the future, while Pat McCrory is clinging to ideas that will turn back the clock."

Here's the ad script:

“Walter Dalton is Bev Perdue’s right-hand man.

Now, Walter Dalton is running away from Perdue.

But, under Perdue and Dalton’s high tax policies, 40,000 more North Carolinians are out of work.

Unemployment is 9.7 percent; one of the nation’s highest.

The Dalton-Perdue new 15 percent sales tax increase will kill 8,000 more North Carolina jobs.

Walter Dalton can’t escape the failed Perdue-Dalton record: Higher taxes – job killing policies.”