Republican senator releases gay-baiting ad

What are the Village People doing in a campaign ad? Good question.

Published October 15, 2008 11:30PM (EDT)

It seems like Mississippi Republican Sen. Roger Wicker's campaign took that old writer's adage "show, don't tell" to heart. When it came time for them to make an ad accusing Wicker's opponent, Ronnie Musgrove, of being paid for by liberals, including a gay-rights group, they included actors dressed as the Village People, and showed them handing over money to another actor depicting a Musgrove fundraiser.

Also included in the ad, which can be viewed below, were people depicting representatives from Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign and abortion rights group NARAL. What makes this spot even more ridiculous, though, is that none of these committees actually gave any money to Musgrove. They gave to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which then doles out money -- and also spends on behalf of -- Democratic candidates all over the country, including Musgrove.

The latest polling in the race, conducted in September, showed the two in a statistical tie, with Wicker consistently holding a small lead that remained within the margin of error.


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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