Mayor’s race heats up with Walker radio ads

The mayor’s race heats up this week, as mayoral challenger Mike Walker unveils a new series of campaign spots that take aim at Mayor Kip Holden for being at the National Urban League convention last week while several violent crimes were taking place in the city. The one-minute ads, which will air on a variety of local radio stations as part of a $15,000 media buy, do not capitalize on the high-profile crimes per se, according to media consultant Roy Fletcher, who produced the spots. Rather, the ads are “framed around the notion that he and Obama were speaking to the Urban League while all this was going on,” Fletcher says. “The problem is, the guy doesn’t deal with it. He doesn’t deal with what’s going on. That’s Mike’s point.” Crime has been Walker’s main focus thus far in the campaign. Earlier this summer he ran a series of radio ads that also focused on crime. The new commercials, which begin tomorrow, are more heavy-hitting and pointed in their criticism, says Fletcher. “It’s time to really get serious,” he says. “The campaign has officially commenced.” —Stephanie Riegel