Shaheen touts efforts for veterans in ad

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) is touting her work for New Hampshire’s veterans in the first ad of her campaign.

{mosads}She’s expected to face former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R) in what looks to be her toughest reelection fight of her career.

The 30-second spot features Dwight Clark, a Vietnam veteran from Keene, N.H., touting Shaheen’s efforts to open up a veterans’ clinic in his area.

Clark says while veterans were promised a veterans’ center for “30 years, and got nothing…Shaheen grabbed the bull by the horns and cut through the red tape and got things moving.”

Clark concludes: “Jeanne Shaheen gets the job done for New Hampshire.”

Shaheen’s campaign manager, Mike Vlacich, touted her as a “tireless advocate for keeping our commitment to our veterans and their families.

“Jeanne Shaheen puts New Hampshire first, and her work for our veterans is just one example of how she makes a difference for New Hampshire,” added Vlacich.

In response, Jim Coburn, a New Hampshire GOP vice-chairman and Air Force veteran, slammed Shaheen’s service to veterans. He pointed to comments from her 2008 campaign spokeswoman that the fact that the state then had no full-service veterans’ hospital “has to change” — and that one has not yet been opened in the state — as evidence she hasn’t delivered.

“Like so many other Washington politicians, Jeanne Shaheen has broken her word to the veterans of New Hampshire. When she was running for Senate, she promised to deliver a full-service Veterans Affairs Hospital to the Granite State. Six years later, Shaheen has failed to keep her word and this pledge has gone unfulfilled,” he said. 

“Our military men and women put everything on the line for us, and they deserve representatives who will deliver on their promises and not just use them for talking points and sound bites to get elected.”

—This piece was updated at 9 a.m. on Monday to reflect comment from the NHGOP.