Gun lobby has hard time finding Ayotte defenders for TV ad

A follow-up to the previous item.

ThinkProgress: As Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) battles public outcry over her vote to kill a bipartisan amendment expanding background checks for gun purchases, a national conservative group based in Iowa is running television ads featuring seemingly ordinary New Hampshire moms and law enforcement officials defending the one-term senator from out-of-state “partisan” attacks.

But the American Future Fund appeared unable to find voters who agree with Ayotte’s position, as a cursory search of individuals in the advertisement reveals that the supposedly typical New Hampshirites are actually long-time Republican party activists and officials. Polls show that

91 percent of New Hampshire adults support expanded screenings…

Jayne Millerick is billed in the ad as a “New Hampshire mom” and says “Those attack commercials are partisan and deliberately misleading.” But Millerick is actually a Republican strategist who served as Chairman of the New Hampshire Republican State Committee, a New Hampshire Republican Delegate in 2008, and was a member of New Hampshire Women for Mitt coalition in 2012. She is now a professional political consultant.

Judy Brown, another “New Hampshire mom” from the ad, served alongside Millerick in the Romney campaign and volunteered for Ayotte’s campaign in 2010. In 2013, she was named as the Nashua City Republican of the Year.

Barbara Dutile, a “Law Enforcement official,” is the wife of a Republican Sheriff in Grafton County who was Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) New Hampshire delegate in 2008, campaigned for Romney, and served as an alternate delegate. In 2012 she received an award from the Republican Party of New Hampshire.

Granted, all these people are New Hampshire moms, but the fact that they don’t disclose what they are beside that tells a lot about how popular Ayotte’s vote is in the state. “I’m a Republican and I back Kelly Ayotte” doesn’t get you far, In fact, it would seem that AFF made the decision that this revelation would actually be a negative.

What friends Sen. Ayotte still has in New Hampshire seem to be rendered useless by their association with her and her party. That’s not a good omen for the future or their fight in New Hampshire.