Browse By

Briefings: The Lesser Argument on Your TeeVee…

UPDATED 4:42PM: To reflect ad buy data from WWLP now available.

Recent local political news coverage has included large doses of the 1st Hampden & Hampshire Senate race and today marks proof that it will also be one of the few local races to go on TV amid the fusillade of ads for governor.

Democrat Eric Lesser released his general election ad today that appeared to be a summation of ten month endeavor to succeed Gale Candaras who is retiring to seek the post of Register of Probate. The ad, narrated by an unseen speaker, describes Lesser’s biography and the core of his platform amid shots of himself, his family, voters and a few political notables.

Lesser released his first ad about three weeks before the September 9 primary was more introductory than the new ad. In it Lesser spoke straight to the camera and broadly discussed the values instilled in him from family and his intent to address the economic and social plight of the Springfield area.

The 1st Hampden & Hampshire Senate District in gray. Click for larger view.. (via malegislature.gov)

The 1st Hampden & Hampshire Senate District in gray. Click for larger view.. (via malegislature.gov)

Lesser’s Republican opponent Debra Boronski was unopposed in the Republican primary and has released no television ads so far. Independent Mike Franco has not either, but he is unlikely to raise sufficient funds to do so. The district includes about a third of Chicopee and Springfield as well as Belchertown, East Longmeadow, Granby , Hampden, Longmeadow, Ludlow and Wilbraham.

Provided it stands as a closing message for Lesser’s campaign in the final two weeks of his effort, it encapsulates several themes that the Harvard educated Longmeadow resident has sought to emphasize since the beginning. The ad touches on his roots in the district, attendance at Harvard Law School and his return to the area to raise his family.

Eric Lesser with daughter Rose. (WMassP&I)

Eric Lesser with daughter Rose. (WMassP&I)

The ad turns to the pillars of Lesser’s campaign from the beginning. It broadly refers to his emphasis on the middle class, while hitting Beacon Hill for its perceived indifference to the region. The ad then moves onto specifics like an extension of rail service to Boston and greater emphasis on high-tech manufacturing. The ad closes with notes of endorsement from teachers, nurses, Cong. Richard Neal and Hampden Sheriff Michael Ashe with shots of William Foley and Kateri Walsh–former and current Springfield City Councilors respectively–among other political figures.

Notably absent from the ad is any mention of Lesser’s time in the White House as an aide to presidential advisor David Axelrod and later staffer to the Council of Economic Advisors. Other campaign themes, like Lesser’s role in the 2002 Longmeadow override to save teacher jobs, are alluded to, if obliquely, in the ad’s mention of his attendance at public schools.

WGGB’s file with the Federal Communications Commission shows ad spending in the amount of $5600 through the end of this week. WWLP shows a little over $13,000 for the same period of time. Lesser’s campaign is expected to go up on all three of Springfield’s broadcast networks and on cable. The full expenditure may not be fully known until after the election as some of the ad buy will assuredly occur after October 18, the cutoff point for the last report before the November 4 election.