14th District hopefuls go on the attack with ad campaigns

What do talking cows, Dennis Hastert and pocket change have in common?

All were used in attack ads mailed to voters in the 14th Congressional District this week.

"Jim has no government experience but he loves to run for office!" a talking cartoon cow exclaims in an illustration on a campaign mailer sent by Republican Chris Lauzen to bash the many failed political campaigns waged by his opponent, dairy magnate Jim Oberweis. The mailer features three more dead cartoon cows, upside down with their legs in the air, to represent his 2002 and 2004 U.S. Senate runs and his 2006 gubernatorial bid. "Good ice cream … yes," the mailer states. "Good candidate … no!"

The piece goes on to state that Oberweis was fined $21,000 by the Federal Election Commission for "illegally using his company's money to help his campaign."

Oberweis' team has a bit of fun with its response, putting out a tongue-in-cheek news release authored by his "spokescow" named Mary R. Holstein.

Calling the mailer "a desperate attempt to distract attention from his own troubles and his fall in the polls," the Oberweis team goes on to point out that the $21,000 penalty wasn't a fine but rather an agreement reached after Oberweis was slapped on the wrist for appearing in TV ads promoting his dairy products while running for election in 2004.

Hastert on the mind: Oberweis, who has sent several glossy mailers touting Hastert's endorsement, sent another mailer this week -- and ran a radio ad -- blasting Lauzen for blasting Hastert. The mailer refers to an open letter Lauzen, a state senator from Aurora, wrote to Hastert and sent to local media outlets three days before Hastert backed Oberweis as his successor. In the letter, Lauzen begs Hastert not to make an endorsement and instead "let the people decide."

When the endorsement became official, Lauzen railed on the former House Speaker, saying his "decision crystallizes what this campaign is all about -- big money and big insider establishment clout versus the rest of us in the grassroots."

Pocket change: The pocket change was an unimaginative illustration in a Jotham Stein mailer sent this week touting him as the candidate who will change Washington. The mailer blasts fellow Democrat Bill Foster as "more of the same" and as someone who "simply wants to buy your vote."

It echoed statements Stein, a St. Charles lawyer, made at Tuesday's League of Women Voters forum. He accused Foster, a millionaire scientist and businessman from Geneva, of spending the equivalent of $40.32 per vote, based on his 2006 campaign finance data.

Foster pointed out that many of his contributors are fellow scientists, friends and family members.

"It's been pointed out that I'm probably deep in the pockets of the scientific truth lobby," Foster quipped.

Stein's campaign also released two videos on YouTube this week. While I'm tempted to give him brownie points for harnessing the easily accessible power of the Web's most ubiquitous video site, the production quality is simply sub-par. Both feature graphics using three exclamation points to urge voters to "Vote Stein Twice!!!" in the special primary and the regular primary, an especially amateur tactic when compared to Foster's ultra-slick TV ads.

lsmith@dailyherald.com