Listen Live
WOLB Featured Video
CLOSE

Post-Labor Day general election ad season in Florida kicks off today with new spots from two of the Senate race’s three candidates. And party identity — not to mention overall campaign strategy — is front and center.

Independent candidate Charlie Crist’s first general election ad stresses a central plank of his candidacy – that Americans are tired of partisan bickering and should bet on a senator unshackled by the demands of a particular political party. “As an independent, I will take the best ideas of Democrats and Republicans to get things done,” Crist promises in the ad.

“At the end of the day, there’s only one party I work for,” he concludes against the backdrop of the word “Americans” – an anagram of the letters making up “Republicans” and “Democrats.”

Crist Campaign Ad:

But while Crist’s ad names no specific policy positions that address achieving “our common goals,” Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek uses his first spot to enumerate his stances on a litany of state and federal issues (He also doesn’t shy away from his party identity – he notes that he’s the state’s “Democrat for Senate” within the first three seconds of the ad.)

“With three of us running, you should know what makes me different,” Meek says in the mostly positive spot, going on to underscore that he is pro-choice, opposes privatizing Social Security, and supports raising the minimum wage. (He tweaks Crist – not by name – on the issue of offshore drilling, emphasizing that he opposed it “before AND after the BP spill.” Crist withdrew his support for drilling in April, saying that the BP disaster illustrated that practice is “the opposite of safe.”)

Meek campaign Ad:

Meek is also quick to note that, of the three candidates in the race, he’s “the only one … who took on George Bush.”

Text continues after Pictures of the week gallery:

Read entire article at MSNBC.com

RELATED:

Florida’s Kendrick Meek Looks Strong In Dem Senate Primary

The Unnecessary Fall Of Barack Obama

Kendrick Meek’s Primary Vote Missing In Polls?