Meek launches first TV ad—bashing Greene

Posted Jul 26, 2010 by William March

Updated Jul 26, 2010 at 02:20 PM

Kendrick Meek has launched the first television ad of his campaign for U.S. Senate, and even though Meek has a name recognition problem, he’s using that first ad to attack his opponent, Jeff Greene, instead of using it to introduce himself.

But Meek says going negative off the top is necessary.

“Our campaign has no choice but to fight back to make sure Floridians know how Greene made the money he is using to launch false and misleading television attacks” on Meek, said a campaign news release on the ad.

Here’s the script:

Kendrick Meek: I’m Kendrick Meek and I approve this message.
Narrator: Check it out. Meet the real Jeff Greene.
Ran for Congress as a California Republican. Moved to Florida two years ago.
Became a billionaire on Wall Street betting middle class families would lose their homes. Helped fuel the economic meltdown.
Warren Buffett called Greene’s scheme “financial weapons of mass destruction.”
Jeff Greene: “They’ll attack me for my friends and past when I was single. Some of it is true but none of that matters. “
Narrator: Betting on suffering does matter.

And here’s the ad.

The only introductory material in the ad is the brief opening shot, when Meek speaks, of himself with his family.

Greene, a billionaire real estate investor, has spent about $6 million of his own money on his campaign, much of it attacking Meek. Meek has raised about $7 million, but only has about $4 million in the bank and hasn’t been able to match Greene’s spending. The two are roughly tied in polls.

Does this ad means Meek has decided that with about a month to go before the primary, it’s time to commit his resources and take his shot at Greene? Asked the size of the ad buy, the campaign would say only, “significant.”