TX: Ads attack Perry on border security and insurance rates

Gov. Rick Perry took hits from multiple sides in two new ads released today, one from his Democratic opponent Bill White, and the other produced by Back to Basics PAC.

White’s ad focuses on his recently revealed border security plan. “Texans believe we need federal help in securing that border. Rick Perry has been governor for nine and a half years, you would think that he would have been able to get some of the federal resources that he now claims we needed all those years,” White states in the ad. He explains his plan to put an additional 1,000 law enforcement officials on the border.

Here’s White’s ad:

Where White’s ad mixes attacks against Perry with positive policy proposals, Back to Basics goes all-out negative in their ad. The spot asserts that insurance companies have enjoyed extra profits under Perry, and that insurance rates are now 75 percent higher as a result of Perry’s policies.

The PAC has funded numerous commercials attacking Perry. Back to Basics also released a newspaper ad calling the current governor a “Coward” for not debating his Democratic opponent. Yesterday, the Texas Tribune interviewed Steve Mostyn, the organization’s primary funder, who said he supported campaign contribution limits, but since none are currently in place, he plans to level the playing field against prominent Republican political donors.

Watch the ad from Back to Basics:

(Photo: Flickr Creative Commons/Robert Scoble)