Lessig targets Rubio in first ad

Campaign finance reform advocate-turned-presidential candidate Lawrence Lessig has dropped his first campaign ad, which skips right over his Democratic primary opponents to jab Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.

The 15-second spot opens with the question, “Who owns Marco Rubio?” before showing a picture of the Florida senator adorned with logos of big-money contributors including Wells Fargo, Honeywell, Goldman Sachs and other financial services companies.

{mosads}“This is what our political system has turned into,” the narrator says.

“Larry Lessig is the only presidential campaign with the will and the way to fix it.

A Lessig aide confirmed to The Hill that the campaign will spend more than $150,000 to air the ad in Iowa and New Hampshire.

The Harvard law professor’s next ad will again not target a Democratic primary opponent, but will instead feature former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R).

“Money is the central issue. It’s true that money is a problem across the field, but it’s important for us in the Democratic primary to attack the issue in a way that doesn’t alienate the base right away,” a campaign spokesperson said.

“So that’s why we went with the obvious Republican targets first.”

Lessig, who is running an underdog campaign centered on campaign finance reform as his single issue, announced this month that he’s raised $1 million for his campaign in about four weeks. That’s already far surpassed the second-quarter fundraising haul for former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee and former Sen. Jim Webb (Va.), two candidates who will make the Democratic debate stage next week.

But because Lessig hasn’t scored high enough in presidential polls — most of which are not even testing his name — he won’t join those candidates for Tuesday’s event.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley raised $2 million during the one month between his announcement and the end of the second quarter. None of those candidates have announced their hauls for the third quarter that closed at the end of September.  

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton raised more than $47 million in the second fundraising quarter, while Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) raised $15 million. The gap between those two candidates narrowed for the third quarter, where Clinton brought in $28 million and Sanders brought in $26 million.