Richardson ad focuses on Guard families, veterans

Gov. Bill Richardson’s new television advertisement, now airing in Iowa and New Hampshire, is certain to get the attention of soldiers and their families.

The 30-second ad, released Monday, is airing in Iowa and New Hampshire.

“When a National Guard soldier would fall in combat, the family was only getting $12,000 – a national disgrace,” the ad’s narrator says. “Bill Richardson passed the first law in the nation giving National Guard soldiers $400,000 in life insurance. Eighteen states followed his lead.”

The ad also promotes Richardson’s proposal to create a “hero’s health card” for veterans, which will allow them to receive health care at any facility instead of only at veteran’s facilities.

Both are issues Richardson has talked about frequently on the campaign trail. In 2005, New Mexico became the first state to pay $250,000 for life insurance for guard members. The amount was later raised to $400,000.

The new ad follows a controversy earlier this year about Richardson’s claim that the idea for the state insurance benefit came after he learned from the mother of a killed soldier how little the federal government was paying.

Richardson said the woman approached him at her son’s funeral and thanked him for her son’s death benefit check. The woman said Richardson was lying and demanded that he stop telling the story, which he did.

The ad is an effective way, on an important issue, to rebound from controversy. It continues the effective advertising being produced to promote Richardson’s campaign.

To learn more about the ad, click here. Here it is: