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MIAMI - Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas began airing the first television ads of his U.S. Senate campaign Tuesday, introducing himself as a leader on education who has fought to provide universal prekindergarten.
"I don't just believe in saying "leave no child behind,' " the Democrat says in the ad, in a pointed reference to the centerpiece of President Bush's education policy. "I believe in really doing something about it."
The ad describes the mayor's successful push for a constitutional amendment in 2002 for a voluntary pre-K program for 4-year-olds. It also stresses that his children attend public schools, showing images of the mayor playing with his young sons and reading to schoolchildren.
Penelas campaign spokeswoman Danae Jones said the ads would be running across the state but declined to name specific markets or disclose the cost of the ads.
Penelas, who is making his first attempt at statewide office, has trailed his two main primary competitors, former state Education Commissioner Betty Castor and U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch, in early surveys, but the polls show a large number of voters remain undecided with the Aug. 31 primary more than four months away.