Political photoshop disasters: Mailers in Benton-Probst race

Many predicted the close 17th District Senate race between Republican incumbent Don Benton and his Democratic challenger Tim Probst would get ugly, but how bad did it really get? A collection of the mudslinging mailers are included below.

In this race, the nastiest ads came from political party groups at the state level rather than directly from the candidates’ campaigns.

The independent ads targeting Benton tried to cast him as a the type of politician who enjoys the perks of his job, perhaps a little too much. Benton has called this ad depicting him as a wasteful monarch “despicable.” It was financed by Democratic Party caucuses (the Roosevelt and Harry Truman funds).

Meanwhile, the independent ads targeting Probst tried to portray him as disingenuous.

“My head has been photo-shopped onto a game show host’s body, a soap opera doctor’s body, a Pinocchio with the headline, “LIAR! LIAR!,” and distorted into a sneering face with several days worth of Miami Vice style stubble,” Probst noted in an email he sent to supporters in October.

Here’s a sample of those mailers, which were financed by a Republican Party caucus called The Leadership Council:

The impact these negative ads had on the election is unknown. According to the latest election update, the race remains too close to call.

Stevie Mathieu: 360-735-4523 or stevie.mathieu@columbian.com or www.facebook.com/reportermathieu or www.twitter.com/col_politics