Coats comes out swinging in new TV ads

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Dan Coats came out swinging with his first ad of the fall campaign.

Coats ran nothing but warm and fuzzy ads in the primary campaign. One look at his new ad, however, will remove any doubt that this will be a rough and tumble race between now and November.

The ad begins with Coats on camera saying, "I became Ambassador to Germany the day before 9/11." He plays up his foreign policy experience and questions the judgment of Democrat Brad Ellsworth. "My opponent voted to close Guantanamo and move terrorists to the U.S. where they could have the same legal rights as Americans," he says in the ad. "As your Senator I'll fight the move."

The Ellsworth campaign immediately pointed out that King and Spalding, the Washington law firm Coats worked for until he joined the Senate race, represents some Guantanamo detainees. "I think it's the height of hypocrisy," says Ellsworth campaign spokesperson Liz Farrar. "This is a man who worked for a lobby firm that's currently working on getting not one, not two, but six Gitmo detainees released."

Coats campaign manager Cam Savage says Coats had nothing to do with 6 cases cited. He says Ellsworth is avoiding the real issues. "This is the kind of ad that lets voters know there is a difference of opinion on a very important national security issue," says Savage.

The ad is on only in Indianapolis as Coats continues to preserve resources for later in the race. Ellsworth, meantime, is off the air and his campaign won't say when his ads will resume.

In a curious move the Ellsworth campaign released an internal poll today that shows Coats with a double digit lead. The purpose of the release was to show that support for the Republican is soft. But the poll also shows that only 56-percent of voters recognize Ellsworth's name.

That would explain why Dan Coats is trying to define him now before Ellsworth can define himself.