Honour starts running TV ads
Scott Honour’s campaign started running TV ads today.
Honour is one of four Republicans competing for the nomination for governor. The campaign is running ads on the Fox News Channel across the state, according to consultant Pat Shortridge.
The campaign is spending between $15,000 and $20,000 on the ad buy, Shortridge said. The theme of the ads, which run 15 seconds at a time, focus on how Honour will manage the state as governor.
“The ads are clear, declarative statements on how Scott sees things, the problems, and how he’d be different. No spin, no gimmicks, just the straight stuff,” Shortridge said. “It’s what voters expect from a conservative business guy who’s a political outsider."
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Honour is the former director of the Gores Group, a global investment company based in California. He moved back to Minnesota when he retired from the firm in 2012.
Public records released by Comcast show about a quarter of the ads will run on Comcast Cable in the Twin Cities, the Dish Network and Direct TV. Shortridge said it's the first round of ads the campaign will run before the Aug. 12 primary.
“We’ll definitely branch out much wider in cable and it wouldn’t surprise me if we did some broadcast,” Shortridge said.
Honour’s ad buy is the most significant of the four candidates running in the Republican primary.
Former state Representative Marty Seifert spent $5,000 on cable and broadcast prior to the Minnesota Republican convention in May.
Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson spent $1,035 on six cable TV ads in May. Johnson, who won the Republican Party endorsement, said last week that he intends to purchase TV ads in the next two weeks.
State Rep. Kurt Zellers has not bought any ad time on cable or broadcast TV.
The Republican ads represent a fraction of the millions the three DFL candidates for governor spent on ads during their primary in 2010.
The lack of spending on advertising may be a signal that Republican candidates are having trouble raising money in a crowded primary.
The winner of the primary will face DFL Gov. Mark Dayton in November.