New Allen Buckley ads chide Chambliss on Vietnam, Imperial Sugar

Libertarian nominee Allen Buckley’s new ads target U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss’ “bum knee” and ties to the Imperial Sugar tragedy.

Allen Buckley, the Libertarian nominee for U.S. Senate, has three new radio ads targeting incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss. Whereas the first ads focused on Chambliss’ spending policies and his first term in the U.S. Senate, these spots — which don’t mention Buckley’s name or say he approved the ads — look at the incumbent’s ties with Imperial Sugar and his “bum knee” that got him out of serving in Vietnam. One even depicts a phone call between a soldier in Iraq and his mother talking about Imperial Sugar, the Savannah sugar refinery that exploded earlier this year and killed 14 people.

Just like the first set of ads, these ones are quite interesting. The Imperial Sugar ad will be targeted around Savannah, the “Chambliss deferments from Vietnam” ad will be aimed at Columbus and Augusta, and the one that discusses Chambliss’ alleged role in the nation’s faltering economy will be geared toward smaller Georgia towns where workers are most likely feeling the pinch.

The gentleman who dropped off the ads at CL’s offices — the same man-in-the-bad-Hawaiian-shirt who gave me the first set of spots a few weeks back — says the Buckley campaign has been working with a 527 to promote the candidate’s message. He declined to name the group, but said it’s “not a Libertarian one.” He said the campaign is also reaching out to Chambliss’ old Sigma Chi brothers from the University of Georgia for information about his deferments. (“We hear Saxby used to like to play football behind the house,” he said.)

Follow the jump to hear the ads and read the scripts.