Voters in Virginia’s 12th Senate district are getting their second television ad of the contest, this time, from former Del. Bill Janis. Here’s the tape (the audio of which is running in the area as a radio spot):
Umm, yeah.
It’s tricky, if not downright dangerous, for a pol like Janis to run an ad opening with a jab at “phony politicians” and “phony promises.” It tends to bring up uncomfortable memories of when the ad’s star — here, Mr. Janis — was just such a politician. Those with long memories will recall his role in “taking a walk” on the Mark Warner tax hike back in 2004. Others may recall his independent bid for Henrico commonwealth’s attorney. Those ruins are still smoking. I can recall my own dust-ups with Janis regarding welfare reform and Virginia’s cronyist method of electing judges.
But I can also recall Janis being one of the Henrico Delegates who came out publicly for Joe Blackburn in his primary against Walter Stosch in 2007. That was a bold move, and it also helps explain why Stosch has sided with Dunnavant now.
Good times. And yes, I’m sill bitter about Joe’s loss…
For me, the Janis ad hits too many wrong notes. But I’m not the intended audience.
My understanding of the informal numbers is that Janis has the edge over all but one member of the field — who goes by the name “undecided.”
This huge block of potential voters (or at lest those who will bother to vote in June) could land in anyone’s camp — hence, the TV ads from Janis and Siobhan Dunnavant. And the mail. And the phone calls.
The conventional wisdom is that this race has always been Janis’ to lose. I’ve not seen anything, yet, to convince me the CW is wrong.
But there’s still plenty of time…
