advertising

With the state's "top two" primary coming up in just over two weeks, August and advertising go together like checks and envelopes at a campaign kickoff party. In addition to all the ads that have gone up lately, here is a rundown of who else is buying time on the airwaves to spread their message.

Governor Chris Gregoire is up with two new spots in Eastern Washington, called "Understanding Spokane" and "Understanding Yakima". The two ads are essentially the same, touting dry side roots and Eastern Washington-specific job growth as well as farm and water policies enacted under Gregoire, but differ when talking about where Gregoire spent time earlier in her life.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi is going on the air with the campaign's first set of television ads today. The spot, entitled "Better", focuses on Rossi's theme of providing new leadership in Olympia to solve problems with transportation, education and the economy.

The spot shows a close-up of a smiling Rossi delivering the lines from a couch, followed by graphic displays of the points he is making. It also begins and ends with the scene of a river flowing through trees, and Rossi wearing a green shirt next to a forest.

See that ad and its script below.

Rep. Rick LarsenRep. Rick Larsen (D-Arlington), the four-term incumbent from Northwest Washington's 2nd Congressional District, began airing his first campaign ads on the radio Monday on stations throughout the district. The spot highlights Larsen's work in expanding health care access for veterans, notably the opening of clinics in Mt. Vernon and Sedro Woolley.

Larsen is being challenged by former Snohomish County Sheriff Rick Bart (R-Arlington), who has yet to advertise and whose campaign was in debt as of the latest filing period at the end of June.

Read the full transcript of the radio ad below the jump.

After early reports showed a gaping hole in the 8th Congressional District television markets, new numbers show that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has reserved nearly a million dollars on Seattle television stations for this year's election.

According to the Washington Post, the DCCC will spend $949,000 on ads will support Darcy Burner (D-Carnation) in her second bid to unseat Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Auburn). Given the size of the market, that means voters are likely to see the ads just over twice a week when they air.

Gov. Chris Gregoire: Getty Images photoGov. Chris Gregoire's campaign has created a new radio advertisement, her first of the 2008 cycle. The ad firmly rebuts the Rossi campaign and ChangePAC's assertion that Gregoire is weak on crime, and instead blames the budget Rossi oversaw as a state senator in 2003 for cutting money from criminal supervision programs.

See the full text of the ad, which uses an older-sounding male narrator and will be running statewide, after the jump.