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The three-week respite from political ads following the midterm elections is about to be broken this week when a potential 2012 presidential contender begins airing commercials in Iowa. The new ad comes from veteran GOP activist Fred Karger.
Karger is a long-shot candidate by any sense of the term. He has never served in elected office, though he has had an extensive career in political consulting. He is also openly gay, and has worked as an activist to support efforts for same-sex marriage in California, and opposed that state’s Proposition 8 measure.
After this year’s midterm election resulted in three Iowa Supreme Court judges losing their retention vote for ruling to institute same-sex marriage in the state, the Republican Party of Iowa has entrenched itself as opposed to LGBT civil rights. As evidenced by the rhetoric at a gathering of state conservatives over the weekend, Republican activists plan to use the 2012 elections as grounds to push social issues.
The new ad from Karger is titled “Independence Day” and is scheduled to run on CNN and Fox News from Nov. 23-29. Karger will be holding an event at the Des Moines Embassy Suites Tuesday to debut the commercial.
According to the press release for the ad:
Besides Fred, featured in the commercial are: President Obama, Iowa Gov.-elect Terry Branstad, Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Speaker-elect John Boehner, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, Democrat National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, Sarah Palin and lots more. There is a special cameo appearance by former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum.
Karger has also tapped Nathan Treloar as his state director. Karger is not yet an official presidential candidate, so Treloar will head up the exploratory committee for an eventual caucus run. Treloar has previously served as communications director for the Republican Party of Iowa, House Majority Fund finance director, and as a county organizer. He also worked on the U.S. Senate campaign of former U.S. Greg Ganske and the first gubernatorial campaign of Bob Vander Plaats.
Patrick Caldwell covers Iowa for The American Independent.
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