With a little more than a week until the Iowa caucus, 2016 presidential candidates are taking their messages to the airwaves, as candidates including Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush all unveiled new ads on Friday.
Here’s a look at the ad blitz as the race continues into the home stretch.
Donald Trump
The GOP front-runner released two ads on Friday, one for television and one for radio.
The television ad will air in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina and goes hard on Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, who is currently Trump’s biggest threat in the race.
The ad uses footage of Cruz talking about immigration, trying to clear up amendments he offered to the 2013 bipartisan immigration reform bill that appeared to show him as a supporter of legalizing undocumented immigrants. The clips feature banners with labels including “pro amnesty.” It closes with Trump in an interview saying he will be tough on illegal immigration.
In the radio spot, the campaign uses audio of Jerry Falwell Jr. introducing Trump at Liberty University and praising his character.
“I see a lot of parallels between my father and Donald Trump,” the clip says. “Like Mr. Trump, Dad would speak his mind. He would make statements that were politically incorrect. He speaks the truth publicly, even if it is uncomfortable for people to hear it. Dad explained that when he walked into the voting booth … he was electing a President of the United States to lead a nation.”
Hillary Clinton
The Democratic front-runner also released a new ad to run in her ad buy in Iowa on Friday, called “The World.”
The bio spot uses pictures and video of Clinton as secretary of State and in her past to paint her as the best choice to lead the country.
“The world a president has to grapple with, sometimes you can’t even imagine,” the narrator says. “That’s the job, and she’s prepared for it like no other.”
That’s a not so subtle dig at her primary opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, whose foreign policy credentials the Clinton camp has repeatedly questioned on the campaign trail.
Marco Rubio
The Florida Republican also released ads in Iowa and New Hampshire on Friday, titled “Marcomentum.” The spots, tailored for each state, feature voters praising Rubio straight to camera and saying how he understands the issues facing the states’ residents.
The ads are set to begin airing Friday.
Jeb Bush
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush tapped his famous family for his latest spot — specifically his mother, former first lady Barbara Bush.
“When push comes to shove, people are going to realize Jeb has real solutions,” Barbara Bush says in the video. “Of all the people running, he seems to be the one who can solve the problems. I think he’ll be a great president.”
The video has a corresponding mailer featuring a hand-written letter by the former first lady.
The ad is billed as a Web video by the campaign. Bush is struggling in the polls and needs a strong finish in New Hampshire to keep his campaign alive.
Carly Fiorina
The super PAC supporting Carly Fiorina, CARLY for America, also announced a TV ad campaign in Iowa on Friday.
The biographical ad focuses on Fiorina’s bona fides, using her voice and a narrator to make her case.
“We need leadership in the White House now that will unlock the potential of this great nation by challenging the status quo,” she says in the ad.
“That’s what Carly Fiorina has done her entire life,” the narrator says. “She rose from secretary to CEO. She turned around a failing company. She became a transformative leader of global non-profits. Now, she is taking on the political class.”
The ad will air in select markets in Iowa through caucus day, on February 1, the PAC said. The size of the buy is $140,000.
Fiorina’s campaign itself has a separate current ad buy running on Fox News in Iowa markets.
