John Gard gets facts wrong about early TV ads

Not that I keep up with John Gard much, but, you know, I do try to keep tabs on those rabble-rousers out there in Waukesha County, including Wigderson. Wigderson, apparently, does keep up with Gard, and he notes today that Gard is upset about TV ads from Democrat Steve Kagen. Gard's press release reads, in part (his emphasis and bad punctuation),

One of my opponents, extreme liberal candidate Dr. Steve Kagen will begin running expensive 60-second TV ads starting next week!

This comes a full 168 days before the Primary Election!

This is the earliest ever on record for a Wisconsin Congressional candidate to be buying TV ads. Dr. Kagen wants to buy the 8th District seat with an onslaught of ads that shows the Howard Dean faction of the Democratic party will do whatever it takes to win this seat. The control of the U.S. House of Representatives is at stake, right here in Wisconsin. A Dr. Kagen victory would help the Democrats win the House back.

Reading that last part, of course, I'm thinking, right on. A Dr. Kagen victory would help the Democrats win back the House. Sounds good to me; Kagen should start putting that sentence on all his literature.

But, that's not what's funny here. What's funny here is that, in fact, Gard is absolutely wrong that Kagen's ads are "the earliest ever on record." I seem to recall (in fact, I blogged about it) 5th CD Democrat Bryan Kennedy was on the air with an ad last September. And, you know, Herb Kohl has been on the air for almost a month, but, I'll give Gard the benefit of the doubt that he meant "House candidate" when he wrote "Congressional candidate."

Of course, Gard uses the rest of his release to urge supporters to send him money ('cause, you know, he'd like to buy the seat, too, with his $500-a-head Dick Cheney fundraisers). While it's true that Gard can't self-fund the way Kagen can, Gard isn't exactly hurting, either, especially compared to his primary opponent, Terri McCormick.