GOP's Greenberg launches TV campaign
Republican congressional hopeful Steve Greenberg is using the skills from his time as a minor-league hockey player to take a political slap shot at his campaign opponent in the 8th District, U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean.
Greenberg's first cable television advertisement was set to launch Wednesday, his campaign team announced. The 30-second spot, titled "Missing the Goal," features a black-garbed hockey player with "Washington DC" on the back of his jersey shooting pucks at a goal as a narrator talks about the economic problems that have developed since Bean, a Barrington Democrat, first was elected in 2004.
Greenberg - a Long Grove resident and businessman who played professional hockey from 1989 to 1991 but didn't reach the National Hockey League - then takes to the ice in a replica Team USA hockey jersey and scores empty-net goals as the narrator promotes his plans to create jobs and lower taxes - without giving any specifics.
A Bean spokesman declined to comment.
Greenberg campaign manager Collin Corbett said the spot will run on cable TV in the district until Election Day.
Although he acknowledged Bean wasn't the only person in Congress over the last four years, Greenberg had no qualms blaming her for the nation's current ills.
"It takes more than one person to fail the American people, and Melissa Bean has fit in very well with the do-nothing Washington crowd," Greenberg said in an e-mail to the Daily Herald.
Corbett said the ad would air on CNN, Fox News and Comcast SportsNet Chicago via several cable providers throughout the district.
Corbett wouldn't say how much the ads cost. More TV ads are planned, he said.
Cable and network TV spots were common when Bean won the seat by defeating longtime incumbent Phil Crane in 2004, and again when she beat Republican challenger David McSweeney in 2006.
Bean's team has not yet run TV advertisements, but independent groups have bought time on TV and radio this season to praise her stances on various issues.
Bean's camp is better financially prepared for an expensive TV battle. Her campaign had more than $1.5 million saved as of this summer, according to federal records, while Greenberg's war chest held only about $105,000.
The 8th District includes parts of Cook, Lake and McHenry counties. The seat carries a two-year term.