Anti-dog racing group plans television campaign

The group behind this year's ballot question that would prohibit dog racing in Massachusetts said Tuesday that they are planning on coupling a grassroots campaign with television advertising to get their message out.

The Committee to Protect Dogs hopes to convince voters to vote yes on Question 3 on this year's November ballot. Carey Theil, a senior advisor with the group, told PolitickerMA.com that they are already off and running and are planning a multi-faceted campaign.

"We will run an effective free media campaign," he said. "We will do television advertising and a paid media campaign to get our message out."

At its core, however, Theil said "this is a grassroots campaign." Already, she said, the committee has about 3,000 volunteers statewide and almost 100 volunteer organizers across the state. The committee also kicked off a statewide, nine stop, tour of organizing meetings on Tuesday night.

Theil said that grassroots organization will be key, as his committee is expecting the dog track owners to launch an expensive media campaign as the election nears. Theil insisted that he hopes to have enough money to compete with the track owners, but if there isn't enough money, their grassroots organization will put them over the top.

"Our hope is to draw even with the tracks in terms of paid media and win on the ground," he said. "That's something that race tracks can't have and will never have. I do view that as our trump card. Our people against their money and muscle."

A recent 7NEWS/Suffolk University poll shows Theil's committee may be in a good position. Fifty percent of respondents in that poll said they would vote "yes" on the question, 37 percent opposed it, and thirteen percent were undecided.

"I do think that we have a lead and I do think that we're favored to win," Theil said. "But we certainly don't take anything for granted.

Theil said his committee's message will focus on "common sense and compassion," and that she expects the track owners to launch an aggressive media attack that will focus on the jobs the tracks create. "I think they'll make a jobs argument and there are some people that work at these tracks," he said. But, he added, "I think the tracks exaggerate the number of people that work at their tracks."

Ultimately, Theil said, she expects the tracks' campaign to turn negative.

"The only tactic available to them is to run negative campaign ads and who knows what issues they will raise," he said. "We certainly expect that."

Nevertheless, Theil said is convinced her committee's footage of the dogs "make a very compelling television argument" and that she expects to be successful.

"We're playing to win," he said.