Candidate: Barbara Merrill, independent candidate for governor

TV ad: “Why I’m Running”

Length: 30 seconds

Market: Statewide

Announcer: Merrill reads the entire script.

Visuals: The ad begins with white text on a black screen: “Warning! The following contains STRAIGHT TALK and may not be suitable viewing for partisan politicians.”

Next, viewers see a blotchy mug shot of incumbent Gov. John Baldacci and the words, “Maine’s 1st Deficit Budget coming in at nearly 1/2 billion dollars.”

Followed by a photograph of President George Bush, with the words, “Since September 2005: The National Debt has increased an average of $1.74 billion per day.”

The ad ends with Merrill standing outside in Lovell, speaking directly to the camera.

Text, audio: “I bucked the Democratic leadership when I voted against the Baldacci budget to borrow almost half a billion dollars.

“I’ve also criticized President Bush for deficit spending in Washington, but we can’t blame him for what politicians do in Augusta.

“So I’m running for governor as a true independent, because it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee. The party candidates will promise us all sorts of changes, but the one change they won’t give us is to end the partisan nonsense which is holding Maine back.”

Purpose: Merrill seeks to establish herself as an independent alternative to Democrats and Republicans, who she says have made hash out of the state and federal budgets.

Accuracy: Merrill makes two major factual assertions in the advertisement. She criticizes Baldacci and Democrats for passing a budget that included “nearly 1/2 a billion” in borrowing and the president for adding $1.74 billion to the national debt every day since September 2005.

Baldacci and State House Democrats did pass an initial budget in 2005 that included borrowing about $450 million. Ultimately, however, under pressure from both inside the party and from Republicans – including state Sen. Peter Mills, R-Skowhegan, who unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination for governor – a different budget that did not include borrowing passed. Instead, it included a $1 increase in taxes on cigarettes and about $81 million in program cuts.

According to the U.S. Department of Treasury, the $1.74 billion figure is accurate for the specific time frame given.

Our view: Campaigns, especially for candidates with low name recognition, often start their paid media efforts with benign, biographical advertisements. First and foremost, the ads try to introduce the candidate to voters on the campaign’s terms.

Merrill, a one-term state lawmaker, bucks the playback with her first ad. She takes her shots at both Republicans and Democrats, and especially Baldacci and President George Bush.

The independent equates Baldacci and Bush on deficit spending and hopes to tap into the dissatisfaction many Maine voters have with both men. The ad might help fuel an anti-incumbency mood in the state.

The script’s transition between Bush and the state race feels jarring. While Merrill says she’s criticized the president for deficit spending, she then says we can’t blame him for what’s going on in Augusta. Then why bring him up? To capitalize on his low approval ratings in the state, maybe.

Merrill can be charismatic and dynamic in person. Those traits don’t come through in the ad. But her kicker – “The party candidates will promise us all sorts of changes, but the one change that they won’t give us is an end to the partisan nonsense that’s holding Maine back” – could resonate with the large number of unenrolled voters in the state.