IL-Gov: Blagojevich Comes Out With a Left Hook

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich with more than six month before the November general election takes to the airwaves to make this case against Republican Judy Baar Topinka.

Governor Rod Blagojevich is digging away at Judy Baar Topinka's position on assault weapons and the state's minimum wage in TV commercials.

Relatives of gun violence victims appeared at a Blagojevich campaign event Thursday to unveil the new ads.

One ad highlights his GOP rival's opposition to an assault weapons ban. Topinka has said such weapons are hard to define, and the ad features video of her saying that a rolling pin could be considered such a weapon.

Another ad showcases Topinka's reference to Blagojevich's proposed minimum wage increase as a giveaway program.

Judy Baar Topinka’s running mate, lieutenant governor candidate Republican Joe Birkett answers back with typical Conservative talking points of Democratic negativity and of minimum wage hurting small businesses.

Blagojevich's use of "negative" campaign ads so early in the race was a "symptom of a campaign that's in trouble."

Birkett said he and Topinka think that increasing the minimum wage will hurt small businesses and run more jobs out of the state, a move that would hurt working families more than keeping the minimum wage at current levels.

Birkett, the DuPage County state's attorney, also said that if Blagojevich were truly serious about an assault weapons ban, he would have gotten it passed by now in the Democratic-controlled General Assembly.

Illinois Republicans Judy Baar Topinka and Joe Birkett are screaming about Democratic “negative” campaign ads while RNC is in full attack mode. The early campaign ads by Democratic Rod Blagojevich use Republican Judy Baar Topinka own words while RNC is using lies in there attack ads. Now, who is really the negative one Joe Birkett?