Stock Footage Alert!

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D) and Sen. Ben Nelson (D) share the same media consultants -- the folks at Struble Eichenbaum Communications. And their campaign ads also share footage of same young-looking waitress.

The Hotline sees just about every ad that's run every cycle, and it's not unusual when we catch duplicative images. After all, stock video doesn't come cheap.

But this situation is a little more complicated. One of Cantwell's latest ads is set at a diner. The candidate explains that, as a former waitress, she wants to get "these things right" -- these things, in this case, refering to her vote against the Trifecta bill and against "Republican leaders" who "wanted to cut Washington's minimum wage." (For background, see here.)

The ad cuts to the waitress in question, and the viewer is implictly asked to link Cantwell's vote to the aspirations of the young woman on the videotape.

In the Nelson ad, which was broadcast last May and focuses on his Washington record, the waitress appears briefly in a digital video effect.

Recall that in '04, an ad run by the NRSC used an actor to portray an Alaskan; that caused a bit of an uproar.