Former U.S. Attorney Matt Whitaker was the first Republican to jump into the race for Tom Harkin’s Senate seat last year and has been campaigning around the state for nearly a year. However, he launched his campaign’s first television commercial just last week, a little more than a month before the June 3 primary. (I’m not counting a tv ad for Whitaker’s law firm, which ran in heavy rotation during the Winter Olympics, although I suspect that spot was designed to raise Whitaker’s profile.)

After the jump I’ve posted the video and script for Whitaker’s campaign ad, along with highlights from the candidate’s first-quarter financial report and his most prominent endorsement so far, from Texas Governor Rick Perry. A separate Bleeding Heartland post will focus on several recent Senate candidate debates. I’m not sure whether Whitaker’s forceful debating style will strike Republican voters as strong and principled or overly aggressive.

Independently wealthy Senate candidate Mark Jacobs has been blanketing Iowa with radio and television ads for much of the last six months. Whitaker had to bide his time.

Data from the Federal Election Commission website show that Whitaker’s campaign raised $384,368 in individual contributions from its inception through March 31 of this year. Whitaker has kicked in a little more than $50,000 in loans, bringing total receipts to $438,294. I expected Whitaker to raise more than a million dollars easily, given his connections as a former U.S. attorney. It hurt him to have so many potential candidates considering the Senate race last year. The lingering uncertainty probably kept many major GOP donors on the sidelines.

Whitaker’s first-quarter FEC filing shows $107,257.45 in total contributions for the first three months of 2014, including a little more than $1,000 from the candidate. State Senator Joni Ernst raised more than twice that much, not to mention the huge sums Jacobs poured into his own campaign. Scrolling through the list of Whitaker’s receipts, I noticed some maxed-out donors and also some prominent names, like Ed Failor, Sr. (the former leader of Iowans for Tax Relief), longtime Polk County Supervisor Robert Brownell, former U.S. Representative Greg Ganske, 2010 State Treasurer candidate Dave Jamison. Whitaker’s problem is that so many of the “usual suspect” big Iowa Republican donors have committed to either Jacobs or Ernst.

According to the latest FEC filing, Whitaker’s campaign spent $50,340.26 during the first quarter, leaving $289,087.03 cash on hand as of March 31. Most of that can be used before the primary, although a few people have given the campaign a total of $5,200, of which $2,600 is restricted for the general election period.

Like many candidates, Whitaker waited to start advertising until he could afford to stay on the air for the rest of the primary campaign. Perhaps he should have copied Ernst, who spent a small amount on an attention-getting debut ad during the last week of March. Since tht time, two polls of the IA-Sen primary suggest a two-tiered race is developing, with Ernst and Jacobs fighting for the lead and Whitaker battling Sam Clovis for third place. While reviews of the Ernst spot were mixed, including ridicule of her running hog castration metaphor, the episode does seem to have catapulted her to the leading “not Jacobs” position in the Republican field.

In fairness to Whitaker, it’s quite possible (even likely) that Ernst’s campaign consultants were tipped off about a bombshell video in the works featuring Bruce Braley. If Whitaker had had advance notice, he might have been able to time his own debut ad to capitalize on Iowa voters and national reporters paying closer attention to the IA-Sen race.

In any event, here’s “Iowa Story,” the commercial Whitaker’s campaign unveiled on April 30. To no one’s surprise, the former college football player went with the Hawkeye pride angle.

My annotated transcript:

Whitaker: “My Iowa story started on this field, and it continued when I played for [University of Iowa] Coach [Hayden] Fry” [Viewer sees Matt Whitaker, holding a football and walking on a high school football field. Words on screen: MATT WHITAKER 1988 Ankeny High School, All State, Ankeny Hawks

1992 University of Iowa, Academic All American

2009 Iowa Football Hall of Fame Inductee]

Close-up of Whitaker, who speaks to camera: “who taught us to always fight for Iowa.” [viewer sees video clips from a couple of different college football games; Whitaker catches a touchdown pass, is mobbed by teammates, as announcer shouts, “In the endzone, it’s a touchdown! Yes, it is Matt Whitaker.” While the viewer hears “it is Matt Whitaker,” the footage shows Coach Hayden Fry pumping his fist.]

Whitaker speaking to camera again: “As your U.S. attorney, I protected Iowans, putting thugs and predators behind bars.” [as Whitaker talks about thugs and predators, the viewer sees a photograph of Whitaker standing in front of an American flag and the U.S. Department of Justice seal. Words on screen: FMR US ATTORNEY MATT WHITAKER TOUGH ON CRIME]

View cuts back to Whitaker, high school football field in background, raising head and smiling, then speaking to camera: “And as your senator, when it comes to standing up to Barack Obama, I won’t waver.”

“I’m Matt Whitaker, and I approved this message because you can trust me to fight for Iowa.” [footage of Whitaker standing on the Ankeny High School field, smiling and lightly tossing football in air]

I wonder whether he needed Hayden Fry’s approval to use that footage in a campaign ad.

These kind of generic ads don’t do a lot for me, but it’s a safe play, and I don’t see how it can hurt Whitaker. The first commercial for Ernst’s campaign was more of a high-risk, high-reward proposition–it surely started a lot more conversations than Whitaker’s ad, though not all the reaction was favorable.

The oddest note to my ear was Whitaker’s line about “my Iowa story started on this field.” Really, your life began as a high-school football player? No meaningful experiences from earlier in your childhood?

I imagine that the next couple of ads for this campaign will be more issue-based and less biographical. I’m curious to see whether Whitaker sticks with a positive message of being a strong conservative, or whether he will end up going negative on Jacobs and/or Ernst as unreliable Republicans.

A couple of days before launching his television commercial, Whitaker’s campaign rolled out its most high-profile endorsement yet, from Texas Governor Rick Perry. Here’s the full statement from the campaign website. I’ve highlighted in bold passages that sound like the germ of a case against Ernst and Jacobs:

Gov. Rick Perry Endorsement

I don’t need to tell you that we are at a critical juncture in our nation’s history. If the Republicans win back the Senate in 2014, we can repeal Obamacare, reduce the debt and put our economy back on track. Electing a Republican from Iowa is crucial for the GOP to win back the Senate. That is why I am throwing my full support behind Matt Whitaker, a constitutional conservative who can win.

Matt is a small businesses owner who has created jobs in Iowa. This means he knows firsthand what it takes to grow the economy. We’ve seen in both Texas and Iowa that free markets, sensible regulations and fiscal responsibility creates jobs. These are the policies Matt will fight for if elected to serve in the United States Senate. This country needs leaders with the experience to know what policies work, and the strength and courage to enact them in Washington. This is what Matt brings to the table.

As United States Attorney from 2004 to 2009, Matt proved himself to be a strong and principled conservative who can get results. He enforced the law, putting dangerous criminals behind bars and holding corporate criminals accountable. Each year he spent less than he was allocated, a demonstration of his own fiscal discipline.

I know Matt to be a man of deep faith and strong character. He has been married for 20 years, has three energetic children, and has always lived his values.

Matt participated in his first Iowa Caucus at the age of 17, and has been a fighter for the conservative movement ever since. He’s not a politician and he’s not new to the Republican Party. The time is now to nominate Republicans who will not just win in November, but who will go to Washington to rein in the size, role and scope of the federal government.

I hope you’ll join me in supporting Matt Whitaker in this Senate race. He will go to Washington and fight to take back our country.  This election is too important to sit out.

Rick Perry

The line about Whitaker being a “constitutional conservative who can win” is a slight dig at Sam Clovis, who is running as a true-blue right-winger but who has raised far less money even then Whitaker.

The Des Moines Register reported this morning that Perry will return to Iowa on May 29 to campaign for Whitaker and for Governor Terry Branstad. That will surely bring some free media attention to Whitaker’s campaign with only days to go before the June 3 primary.

Any comments about the IA-Sen race are welcome in this thread.