Tea party-backed Senate candidate asks voters to pick next ad

Rob Maness, the Tea Party-backed Republican candidate running an underdog bid to unseat Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is letting his supporters weigh in on his campaign strategy.

His campaign is asking people to vote for one of three ads on his website. Maness will run the winning ad in Louisiana next week in his bid to defeat Landrieu and Rep. Bill Cassidy, the other GOP candidate.

{mosads}Polls show Cassidy with a majority of Republican support in the state.

A new Rasmussen poll released Wednesday showed Maness with support from 14 percent of likely voters, well behind Cassidy at 38 percent and Landrieu at 41 percent.

If no candidate hits 50 percent on Election Day, the top two will go on to a runoff.

Maness has touted endorsements from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) and conservative talk show host Mark Levin.  

The three ads have drastically different tones. One shows a couple lamenting Landrieu and Cassidy’s negative ads, while a woman decides to “send Washington politics a message” by voting for Maness. But the man sitting next to her misunderstands and decides to fire a shotgun at the TV.

The second ad takes a somber look at the resilience of Louisiana, specifically in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

“When the chips were down and the world thought we were done, we joined together and proved them wrong,” he says, over video of the BP oil spill and Katrina devastation that changes into people celebrating as they watch the New Orleans Saints and a marching band.

“We can overcome the Washington politics of this campaign, and we can do it together. A little real Louisiana will help fix a lot of wrong in Washington,” the ad concludes.

The final of the three ads shows Maness washing his white Ford 4×4 truck that’s covered in mud, a mess he says reminds him of “our country under Obama.” He promises to make ObamaCare “road kill” if elected.

“My two Washington-backed opponents have spent more than $10 million on negative advertising, and voters are just sick and tired of the same old uninspiring, D.C. consultant driven, negative silly slap fights,” Maness said in an emailed statement.

Maness faced off against Cassidy and Landrieu in the race’s first debate, which included all three candidates, on Tuesday night. He painted the two lawmakers as creatures of Washington and himself as an outside voice who would work for common Louisianans.