Details of a new television campaign ad from Republican gubernatorial candidate Kay Bailey Hutchison:
TITLE: "Road Signs."
LENGTH: 30 seconds.
AIRING: Starts Tuesday statewide.
SCRIPT:
"This is a free road.
"For now.
"Rick Perry wants it to be a toll road.
"The road your taxes already paid for.
"A giant Perry land grab.
"Like the 600,000 acres he tried to take from Texans.
"So a foreign company could charge tolls, too.
"It's time to end the Trans-Texas Corridor.
"Forever.
"Kay Bailey Hutchison for Governor."
KEY IMAGES: The entire script flashes line by line across a large digital message board on a busy highway. The "free road" being discussed appears to be an empty bridge crossing over the highway. The only sounds are that of heavy traffic and honking horns.
ANALYSIS: The ad attempts to capitalize on populist anger over the Trans-Texas Corridor that has dogged Perry since he first proposed it in 2002. Perry ditched the plan last year in response to the public uproar.
He initially cast the $175 billion network of toll roads as a way to relieve Texas' traffic congestion and pay for new roads, an ongoing problem in the state. While Hutchison clearly recognizes the importance of the issue, her proposals — using "innovation" and creating a committee to study ways to reduce waste — are light on solutions to pay for it.
The ad could mislead viewers by suggesting that Perry could have converted existing roads to toll roads. A 2005 Texas law prohibits such a conversion without voter approval.
PERRY'S TWO CENTS: Perry's camp says it's unfortunate that Hutchison has started the new year with a negative and "factually inaccurate" ad.
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Analysis by April Castro, Associated Press writer.
