After raising an impressive $22 million in the first six months of 2011, the Republican Governors Association has a launched a campaign committee, website and television ad attacking Kentucky Democratic Governor Steve Beshear in his race against GOP challenger David Williams.The 30-second spot is running across the state and was paid for by a group dubbed Bluegrass Prosperity, which is receiving funds through the RGA. It shows a coal hopper representing the state moving "in the wrong direction."Check it out:Calling the advertisement misleading, Beshear's campaign manager Bill Hyers sent a message to supporters Monday afternoon asking them to donate in order to compete with the GOP dollars.From the Beshear camp:Today the Republican Governors Association (RGA) has launched a large television ad campaign in every media market in the state. They are trying to knock us down and build our Republican opponent David Williams up.
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This large war chest will be tough to combat and we will need every possible resource in our arsenal to sustain their attacks.
In the face of this new campaign, we are going to need to increase our television budget and make sure that we go toe-to-toe with the efforts by the national Republican Party to defeat Governor Beshear in his reelection campaign.
The Democratic Governors Association raised only $11 million in the same period and hold 20 of the country's 50 governorships.