The leading contenders to replace Mayor Bloomberg may be on opposite sides of the political aisle, but their ads are targeting the same audience — Democrats.
Republican mayoral candidate Joe Lhota struck first by reaching across the political aisle in a 30-second spot released late Wednesday.
In the straightforward pitch, the former MTA chief says he’s similar to Democratic rival Bill de Blasio on social issues — but a polar opposite on fiscal ones.
“Bill de Blasio is pro-choice. Joe Lhota is pro-choice,” begins the ad, which is running on broadcast TV and cable.
“Lhota supports gay marriage. De Blasio supports gay marriage. Both support decriminalizing marijuana,” it continues.
“The difference? De Blasio wants to raise taxes and supports reckless government spending. Lhota wants to cut wasteful government spending, putting more money back in your pocket.”
Democrats outnumber Republicans 6 to 1 among registered voters in the city, so Lhota would have to attract plenty of Dems to dent de Blasio’s lead in the polls.
De Blasio responded Thursday with an ad that uses footage of his primary-night victory to urge voters to “join the cause.” It doesn’t mention Lhota.
“There are those who have said our ambition for this city is too bold, that we’re asking of the wealthiest New Yorkers too much, that we’re setting our sights for the children of this city too high,” de Blasio says in the clip from his victory speech last month at Brooklyn’s Bell House.
“Well, let me say this: We are New Yorkers. Thinking big isn’t new to us.”
Despite targeting the same voters, the two ads took very different approaches, says GOP consultant Bill O’Reilly.
“The de Blasio ad was seeking to make an emotional connection and to keep that halo up there. He wants to go Kennedy-esque,” he said. “The Lhota campaign was trying to make an intellectual connection with a little bit of a shock value for a Republican. It was a smart play, because the issue that really matters is economics.”
Other pundits said Lhota stumbled by siding with de Blasio on social issues just days after hammering him as a Marxist liberal.
Lhota had seized on reports that de Blasio supported the Sandinista government in Nicaragua in the late ’80s and had honeymooned in Cuba in 1994.
“It just doesn’t make any sense,” said Democratic political consultant Joseph Mercurio, who teaches communications at Fordham University.
“Lhota’s not really telling people he can make people’s lives better than de Blasio can,” he added. “Well, why have Bill de Blasio-light when you can have Bill de Blasio?”
De Blasio’s ad:
Lhota’s ad: