A new Alliance for a Better Minnesota ad goes for Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer's jugular -- and his old arrests for drunk driving.

The Democratic and labor supported group is running an ad featuring a mother whose son was killed by a drunk driver, noting Emmer's legislative positions and his past arrests.

(update) Emmer's deputy campaign manager Bill Walsh called the ad an, "unprecidented early negative personal attack. It's July!"

Emmer's 20 and 30-year-old drunk driving charges have appeared before in the campaign. Back in April, then-Republican candidate for Governor Marty Seifert sent out a letter from a woman whose husband and son were injured by a drunk driver. Like the ABM ad, that letter linked Emmer's legislative positions to his DWI past. Emmer's campaign called that a "new low" in politics.

The Transcript:


Our son John was the light of our life and to receive a call at 3 in the morning that he'd been killed by a drunk driver is the worst nightmare a parent can experience. So when I heard that Tom Emmer sponsored a law to reduce penalties for drunk drivers - I was outraged. And then I read that Tom Emmer has been arrested twice himself for drunk driving… And his man wants to be Governor? Minnesota needs a Governor who's on our side – and that's just not Tom Emmer.

The ad: