The Hiller Instinct: Ad War Heats Up

Shannon O'Brien, (D) Gubernatorial candidate
"Now I got to answer some questions. This will be fun. Yes..."

If O'Brien thinks this is fun, then she's a masochist:

Shannon O'Brien
"The ads are disgraceful, they are distorted and they have no business in this campaign."

This is the Romney ad she's challenging:

Romney ad:
"While she was treasurer, her husband was lobbyist, working for Big Dig contractors...and even for Enron."

Shannon O'Brien
"I challenge them to find any conflict of interest, because there was none."

Mitt Romney, (R) Gubernatorial candidate
"I believe that having one’s spouse as a lobbyist is an absolute indication of the way management is done on Beacon Hill, and it's wrong."

After promising no immediate family members will be allowed to lobby if he's elected, Romney attacked an O'Brien ad that resurrects an issue from Romney's race against Ted Kennedy in 1994:

O'Brien ad:
"Trust you on jobs? Remember it was Romney's firm that bought an Indiana paper company. They cut workers' wages...Romney said, ‘This is not fantasy land. This is the real world.’"

Mitt Romney
"Her ad is misleading and distorted. Tens of thousands of people got jobs and kept jobs by virtue of the investments of Bain Capital."

Shannon O'Brien
"My opponent's record is one of putting people out of work, or cutting their benefits, or not fighting for working families, frankly just the opposite. People know who'll fight for them and that's why I'm going to win this race."

Mitt Romney
"All the effort by the Shannon O'Brien campaign to try and divert attention to an eight-year-old story about AMPAD - and doing it inaccurately - that will just not pass muster."

To keep track of all the charges and counter-charges you're going to hear in the next weeks, you'll need a calculator. But you only need one finger to know what all the charges are about: trust! Tell me whom Massachusetts voters trust more, and I'll tell you who the next governor will be.