New ad touts Shaheen’s commitment to small businesses

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s (D-N.H.) new campaign ad features a small-business owner touting the senator’s work for companies like hers in New Hampshire.

{mosads}In the ad, Adria Bagshaw, the vice president of a New Hampshire steel company, declares of the senator: “What really impresses me about Jeanne Shaheen is, if we bring a problem to her she cares and she’s going to listen.”

Bagshaw says Shaheen is working to help small businesses export products, access credit and train high-skill workers.

“I think Jeanne Shaheen really makes a difference for New Hampshire,” Bagshaw concludes, as a shot of Shaheen appearing with the plant’s workers appears on the screen.

The ad will begin airing Tuesday, as National Small Business Week launches in cities across the nation.

It follows an ad in which a Vietnam veteran touted Shaheen’s work pushing for a veterans’ clinic in his area.

And it echoes a trend cropping up in other races nationwide, as candidates begin to look toward their general election fights: A focus on a commitment to job creation, as polls have shown Americans dissatisfied with the state of the economy.

New Hampshire GOP Chairman Jennifer Horn accused Shaheen of trying to “distract from her abysmal economic record and her support for the failed Obama-Shaheen policies that have cost us jobs.”

 As governor, Shaheen tried to destroy small businesses by imposing a disastrous sales tax. As a senator she voted to raise taxes on 2.1 million business owners and cast the deciding vote to impose ObamaCare’s reckless tax hikes on job creators,” Horn said, pointing to her support for a proposal that let Bush-era tax cuts expire for top earners.

Shaheen is expected to face a tough challenger in former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R). She’s hoping to come out ahead by emphasizing her work for New Hampshire while portraying Brown as someone who has crossed states lines to pursue a political career.

—This piece was updated at 3:40 p.m. to reflect comment from the New Hampshire GOP.