Tom Reed launches early TV campaign ads

• Congressman Tom Reed has launched a third TV campaign ad.
• Two years ago%2C Reed gave away money to other GOP candidates until the final weeks of the campaign.
• Reed has spent more than half of the %242.4 million he raised through June 30.

WASHINGTON – Republican Rep. Tom Reed's campaign says his early television ads that began running last month reflect the way congressional campaigns have changed.

"There's no normal any more in politics," Reed's spokeswoman, Katherine Pudwell, said Monday. "The time line has changed because the landscape is changing. Campaigns start earlier and earlier."

But a Democratic campaign strategist says the ads signal the Corning Republican realizes the difficulty he will have winning re-election in November and speculates Reed's internal polling may show a significant percentage of voters have an unfavorable opinion of him.

"Clearly, Tom Reed knows South Tier voters are sick and tired of him stacking the deck in favor of special interests and the ultra-wealthy by shifting the burden onto hard-working middle class families and seniors," said Marc Brumer, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Ian Prior, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said Reed's fundraising success allowed him to run the early TV ads "and put this race out of reach for his liberal opponent, Martha Robertson."

Two years ago, Reed was so confident of re-election he gave away money to other Republican candidates until the final weeks of the campaign.

This cycle, Reed has spent more than half of the $2.4 million he raised through June 30.

WGRZ-TV, the NBC affiliate in Buffalo owned by Gannett, has run $28,495 in Reed campaign ads since June 1, according to sales manager Mark Manders.

At WENY-TV in Elmira, a local affiliate for ABC, CBS and CW2, Reed has spent $17,000 since June 17, according to general manager Doug Beers.

The latest ad

, which began airing Sunday, features Reed with his sister, Mary, sitting at a table covered with family photos. It's the second low-key spot that presents the congressman as easygoing, sincere and jovial.

"As the youngest of twelve, I learned a lot from my brothers and sisters and they really know me best," Reed says in the new ad. "We didn't have much growing up, but we had each other."

An earlier ad, which attacked Reed's Democratic challenger, Martha Robertson, as a "far out Ithaca politician" pursuing an "extreme Ithaca agenda" has been taken down from Reed's campaign YouTube site, but was still available on YouTube Monday. Ithaca is part of the 23rd Congressional District where Reed is seeking re-election.

Robertson's spokesman, Seth Stein, said Reed is "afraid" of her record as former chairwoman of the Tompkins County Legislature.

"Tompkins County emerged from the recession with the lowest unemployment rate in New York state outside NYC," Stein said.