Tennant's New Ad

Interview

Natalie Tennant's new television ad is at TV stations now and according to paperwork filed with the stations mentions Shelley Moore Capito. Will Tennant stick to the script she revealed at her DC fundraiser on September 16, 2014? Or, has she edited her plan in preparation for a 2016 Gubernatorial race as the Washington Post reported on Friday? The Tennant campaign had a rough week after her plan to launch a series of personal attacks against Shelley Moore Capito and her family was called "desperate."

Capito addressed Tennant's planned attack on Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval on Friday. Here is what she had to say:

Hoppy: Tennant says that you have "benefitted personally" from your connections to Wall Street. Your response?

Capito: "Well I think that is absolutely ridiculous. It's just the politics of personal destruction. I think what you see from my opponent is a desperate Hail Mary pass that she thinks she can besmirch my character and that of my family by insinuating that I served with less than honor and I think that is absolutely off-base and very, very destructive to the process."

Hoppy: The references on this are -- according to the Tennant campaign - a series of articles that say with your position on the Financial Services Committee that you've become Wall Street's secret weapon.

Capito: "Well I think that if you look at the -- what's the largest vote that's come across our desk in terms of the big banks -- and that would of course be the bail out. And I voted TWICE no, not to bail out the banks. That, to me, is emblematic of my position. I've been very fair in terms of talking about getting credit to our small businesses to make sure people can get mortgages, can buy a car, that's where my concern is in terms of the financial sector. This is just political silly-season and personal attacks. I said in the beginning, I don't know if you remember the very first time we spoke about Secretary Tennant being my opponent, that she had attacked viciously from the beginning and this is just following up on that."

Hoppy: The reference is to your husband Charlie… that he is in the investment businesses and the Tennant campaign says Capito's long record using the House Financial Services Committee to boost profits for Wall Street bankers like her husband.

Capito: "That's a personal attack in my view. That's attacking my family and I will defend my family -- my husband doesn't need me to defend him, he can defend himself -- but to me, this is just, she doesn't want to talk about jobs, she doesn't want to talk about the devastation in the coal industry, she doesn't want to talk about a healthcare bill that doesn't work, she doesn't want to talk about West Virginians' pessimism about the future of the country because of the people she's supported, so she goes to a personal attack. I'm willing to fight through it and I think I'll be successful on election day."

Hoppy: Will you feel compelled to respond in an ad?

Capito: "You know, this is an old allegation that has been out in the news for years and has been batted back by many independent sources. I don't know what kind of response I'll have, I'm just deeply disappointed that they find that they have to attack me, my husband, my family -- that's a pretty low blow."

Bray Carey addressed the rumor of Natalie Tennant going on the attack against Capito on today's Decision Makers and he stated that for the foreseeable future we are going to be seeing a lot of negative ads.

Regardless of Tennant's next move, there's no doubt that her campaign is in trouble. In an editorial today, the Wheeling Intelligencer wrote that Tennant has no intention of keeping her pledge to stand up for West Virginia judging by the people backing her campaign. Going after Shelley Moore Capito and her family with misleading personal attacks is only going to wipe out any remaining credibility Natalie Tennant has left with West Virginia voters.

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