Producer In Delaware Disputes O'Donnell Claim About Ad

A half-hour television ad for Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell was finally being aired on a Delaware public access channel after a day of delays.

The tea party favorite's campaign blamed the channel for the delays and suggested that politics was involved in the mix up, but Tim Qualls, an independent producer who booked time for the program on Comcast's channel 28, said it didn't run as scheduled because O'Donnell's campaign was late getting him the video.

Qualls said the campaign approached him Thursday about running the program this weekend. He said the campaign had a Friday deadline for getting him the video but didn't deliver it until Sunday night.

Qualls, a Republican who said he voted for O'Donnell in the primary, called on O'Donnell to clarify that the campaign was at fault so the incident doesn't hurt his reputation. He said he has been bombarded by nasty phone and e-mail messages, some including threats.

“I want something coming from her office saying something on this,” he said. “Don't make me look like I forgot ... I got like
200 e-mails from people cussing me out.”

O'Donnell's campaign released a statement Monday afternoon calling it a “misunderstanding” that also involved a third-party broker.

“Mr. Qualls is being incredibly cooperative now,” the statement said. ``We are sincerely sorry for any misunderstanding that has transpired.”

Qualls said the video is now running twice Monday and four times Tuesday.

O'Donnell's campaign, which last week feuded with a conservative talk show host and has repeatedly fought with the state's largest newspaper, had notified supporters that the promotional video was scheduled to run Sunday night and twice Monday.

When it didn't, she sent a Twitter message saying she was told the station “'forgot' to air it both times ... even though we paid for the time slot last week.”

“Dirty politics again?” another message said.

The ad features O'Donnell supporters talking about their struggles in the weak economy and criticizing the policies coming from Washington.

O'Donnell has announced no public events Monday. She faces Democrat Chris Coons in the race for the Senate seat long held by Vice President Joe Biden.
 

Contact Us