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Schaffer ad goof: Oops, wrong state - The Denver Post
Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer unofficially launched his campaign Wednesday with a biographical spot he was forced to pull almost immediately because the image in the ad of Pikes Peak — where he proposed to his wife — turned out instead to be Mount McKinley in, well, Alaska. Dick Wadhams, Schaffer's campaign manager, said the spot would be re-edited with Colorado peaks and start running again almost immediately, but not before his candidate took a series of hits from liberal bloggers noting that the ad was supposed to underscore Schaffer's deep connection to Colorado. In an era of acid-tongued bloggers, it's the kind of mistake that doesn't go by lightly. "To Schaffer, who came here from Ohio, all mountains probably look the same, but Coloradoans with common sense know better," penned Michael Huttner, director of ProgressActionNow.org, in one of the kinder commentaries. Still, analysts found more significance in the ad than misplaced geography.
Schaffer critics climb all over misplaced mountain : Elections : The Rocky Mountain News
They say faith can move mountains. Apparently, so can political campaigns. But when a television ad for Republican Bob Schaffer's campaign for U.S. Senate mistakenly switched Mount McKinley in Alaska for Pikes Peak in Colorado, the consequences can be rugged and steep. "I am very frustrated," said Schaffer campaign manager Dick Wadhams, who admitted the mistake and said a corrected ad was to be on the air by Wednesday night. "What is frustrating about it is that when we saw the rough cut of the ad we asked the media consultant to check that," Wadhams added. But after being reassured that the mountain was a "stock photo" image from Colorado, the ad ran. It didn't take long for some mountaineering Democrats to climb all over the error. The Web site ColoradoPols.com posted the discovery, leading several activists to contend that the error says more about Schaffer than his media consultant. "For Schaffer, who comes from Ohio, to not know the most important mountain in Colorado is just foolish," said Mike Huttner, executive director of the liberal group Progress Now Action.
Top Stories: Candidate misidentifies Mount McKinley as Pikes Peak | Gazette.com
Colorado may be Bob Schaffer's life, but a refresher course on the state's landmarks couldn't hurt. Pikes Peak, for instance. The Republican U.S. Senate candidate on Wednesday unveiled his first television ad, with the theme "Colorado is my life." "I proposed to my wife, Maureen, on top of Pikes Peak," Schaffer says in the ad, gesturing behind him as the couple's picture appears with a snow-covered mountain in the background. The mountain pictured in the ad, though, isn't Pikes Peak; it's Mount McKinley in Alaska. The Colorado Democratic Party and Progress-NowAction, a liberal advocacy group, were quick to jump on the mistake, sending news releases noting that apparently all mountains look alike to Ohio natives like Schaffer. Both news releases ridiculing Schaffer misspelled Pikes Peak as "Pike's Peak." Schaffer's campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, said Wednesday afternoon that the ad was quickly pulled after it was released on the Internet. Wadhams blamed the embarrassing episode on the campaign's media consultant, who was supposed to verify that the mountain was Pikes Peak.
GJSentinel.com: Schaffer might have early climb in race after ad goof
Schaffer released his first campaign television ad this week, one touting his Colorado background, noting he has a daughter studying at the Air Force Academy and he proposed to his wife, Maureen, at the top of Pikes Peak. All that was intended to be set against a stirring Colorado mountain backdrop. “Oh, I don’t know,” said state Rep. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, Schaffer’s Mesa County campaign chairman, when asked about the mountain backdrop. “Spanish Peaks? Sopris? Mount Vesuvius?” Mount McKinley in Denali National Park in Alaska, it turns out. Schaffer’s media consultant assured him the backdrop was a Colorado scene, campaign manager Dick Wadhams said. “And we took him at his word,” Wadhams said. “I’m not very damn happy right now.” Schaffer’s campaign pulled the ad, remade it with Pikes Peak in the background and now is airing the corrected version in Colorado Springs and Grand Junction media markets. Such mishaps tend to accumulate, said former 3rd Congressional District U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis, a Grand Junction Republican. “They can afford this one, but one or two more and that’s all you can absorb,” he said.
Summit Daily News - State Senate candidate yanks ad; Mt. McKinley no Pikes Peak
Mount McKinley is no Pikes Peak, at least in Colorado political circles. U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer pulled his first television campaign ad after learning that it featured Alaska’s Mount McKinley, also known as Denali. The ad was set to debut Wednesday in Colorado Springs and Grand Junction. Schaffer campaign spokesman Dick Wadhams said his staff was assured by a media consulting firm, DMM Media of Washington, D.C., that a photo used in the ad was a stock Colorado Rocky Mountains photo.
