Roy Blunt and Potatoes

This week, again, we have to talk about Carnahan and Blunt's campaign as the ad war between these candidates is now actually becoming funny.

Carnahan's ad, popularly known as 'Potatoes' attacks Roy Blunt again in the same way these two have been attacking each other throughout their campaign. It now seems that instead of talking about issues and saying why they are a better candidate than the other, these two are hell bent on talking about why the other candidate is worse.

Carnahan's ad starts by asking what "this museum for teapots, this swimming pool, and this center for studying potatoes have in common" It continues, "Thanks to Roy Blunt, they've been getting your tax dollars." The ad continues saying that Blunt has become a leader in allowing earmarks to get out of control. "He's been called a 'prodigious pork-meister' for earmarks that cost you $20 bullion a year. That's a lot of potatoes. I'm Robin Carnahan and I approve this message because I'm banning earmarks once and for all" concludes the ad.

Robin Carnahan's ad can be seen here:

This ad refers to the money for three earmarks included in various spending bills. The teapot museum was part of an overall spending bill supported by Blunt and was not a subject of a separate vote. The other two earmarks were considered separately, and Blunt voted to keep them just like a large majority of House members. A Democratic Representative had actually defended one of these earmarks by saying that the potato research goes to developing potato varieties that will help both producers and consumers financially and in terms of health.

The claim of earmarks costing $20 billion a year turns out to be not completely accurate, but far from a lie. Although the amount is not that high, estimates for earmarks this year range between $11 billion and $16 billion (www.kcstar.com). 

Although Carnahan and Blunt have not actually been lying in any of their ads, there seems to be plenty of spinning and inaccurate criticizing going on. It is now going to a point where at least we bloggers find it amusing than anything else.