Durbin’s first spot of 2014 campaign: Video

WASHINGTON — Sen. Dick Durbin D-Ill. launched on Wednesday the first paid television spot of his 2014 re-election campaign, an upbeat testimonial from a Joliet woman whose wounded military husband was helped by a program Durbin passed through Congress, the Veterans Affairs Family Caregiver Program. The spot will run in Chicago and Springfield.

It’s an interesting selection of a topic for a first ad and it was crafted, I am guessing, to deliver a message about Durbin delivering at a time Congress is getting low ratings in polls. It also addresses lurking anti-Washington sentiment by highlighting the value of incumbency. Durbin faces GOP nominee Jim Oberweis, a state senator from Sugar Grove who has been attacking Durbin of being a “career politician.” This spot is designed to show that Durbin’s tenure in Washington–indeed his congressional career– pays off for Illinoisans. The ad is about an issue where there is bi-partisan agreement, helping veterans.

I asked Durbin campaign spokesman Ron Holmes about the choice of this topic for the spot, by Durbin admakers Shorr, Johnson Magnus.

Said Holmes, “We wanted to start with an ad with an Illinoisan that has been helped by Washington. This ad is tangible proof of Senator Durbin’s work and we’re going to continue to talk about his record in weeks ahead.”

Below, the ad and ad transcript…

Andrea Simone: “I was actually watching the news that day, and I heard a report about the Taliban claiming responsibility for the helicopter getting shot down in Afghanistan. My husband and his gunner were the only survivors. Tony suffered a severe traumatic brain injury. There’s really not much about our life that is the same.

Senator Durbin passed a law that provided me with the resources and the training, so that I am able to take care of Tony at home. I believe that for Dick Durbin it’s not about politics’ he cares for veterans and their families.

I believe it’s absolutely a blessing that I am able to take care of Tony in our home with our children where he feels loved. And um, that has meant the world to us.

Senator Durbin: I’m Dick Durbin, and I’m proud to approve this message.