President Obama is antagonist in new ads by Jack Conway, Republican Governors Association

cn|2 Pure Politics ^ | 7/28/2015 | Kevin Wheatley

[Republican Wildcat]

As Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jack Conway seeks separation between himself and an unpopular president in one of two new television ads released on Tuesday, the Republican Governors Association is attempting the opposite in a competing spot unveiled the same day.

Conway’s campaign released two 30-second ads that are set to air statewide in a six-figure buy.

In one, titled “Fiscal,” Conway pledges to “hold the line on taxes” and touts his office’s record of winning high-dollar judgements during his two terms while the other, called “Coal,” highlights his decision to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for proposed regulations on greenhouse gas emissions. The Democratic attorney general also sued the agency for its proposals to regulate mercury, which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down late last month.

The only mention of President Barack Obama’s name came when Conway said he sued him.

“When the president of my own party tried to change the rules and hurt coal, I sued Barack Obama,” Conway says in the ad. “I was the only Democratic attorney general in the country to do that, and it didn’t make me any friends in Washington, but right is right, and they’re wrong. A lot of politicians talk about protecting coal, but I’ll stand up to anybody to keep people working here.”

The RGA ad, like Conways’, also focuses on the courtroom, but the group takes Conway to task for not challenging the Affordable Care Act.

The 30-second spot partly focuses on a report by the Kentucky Hospital Association that anticipated hospital cuts totaling nearly $7 billion through 2024 attributable to the federal health law, according to a report released by KHA in early June.

“Obama liberal Jack Conway stated he would have been proud to vote for Obamacare,” a female narrator says in the ad. “As attorney