PITTSBURGH - Senator Rick Santorum began running a one minute commercial yesterday on all three local stations that, in the words of his media director, John Brabender, depicts him “as a regular guy” speaking with “a passionate voice” about “the issues that matter most to the people of Western Pennsylvania.”The commercial shows Senator Santorum, his face painted half-black, half-gold, seated at a wooden table with his hands folded. Speaking directly to the camera, Santorum begins chanting “Fred-dee, Fred-dee” for fifteen seconds, in apparent homage to National League Batting Champion and Pirate third baseman Freddy Sanchez.
“Furthermore,” he adds, before delivering a full-throated, “Here we go Steelers, here we go!” for another fifteen seconds. “And finally” he says, concluding with a lusty, but off-key “I’ve got a feeling, Pittsburgh’s going to the Super Bowl!”
The spot ends with Santorum denouncing Cleveland as a city filled with Sodomites, and berating Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer for an alleged attraction to barnyard animals.
Brabender said the commercials have had an immediate, positive impact on Santorum’s re-election campaign. “We’ve been able to show, through this commercial, that just because Rick is working in Washington, he’s not out of touch with his constituents.”
The latest Quinnipiac University poll, taken minutes after the commercial first aired, now shows Senator Santorum with a ninety-point lead among all registered sports fans in Allegheny, Beaver, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
