Suburban congressional race heats up with ad buy

Democrat Bryan Lentz, who is running to replace Joe Sestak in the Seventh Congressional District in suburban Philadelphia, started running television ads Tuesday. The ad buy comes after a conservative group launched ads last week to attack Lentz and other Democrats on government spending.

The second goes after Lentz's Republican opponent, Patrick Meehan, for Meehan's support of the Bush tax cuts. Lentz and Meehan agree that tax cuts to those making less than $250,000 annually should be extended, but Meehan also supports extending tax cuts for those who make more than $250,000.

The second ad is somewhat misleading as it implies that Meehan supports tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of the middle class. Meehan supports tax cuts for both.

But the advertisement also cuts at one of the GOP's favorite talking points-the deficit. Tax cuts mean less revenue, which means cutting elsewhere in the budget or adding to the deficit.