Underfunded, Kantrowitz goes viral in attempt to get campaign message out

It's hard for Republican Steve Kantrowitz to buy advertising time on radio and television with a relatively small campaign bank account. The 19th Senatorial District candidate raised only $4,600 in the 30 days following the April primary and finished the reporting period with just over $6,500 in cash on hand. His opponent, state Sen. Andrew Dinniman (D-West Whiteland), raised more than $48,000 during the same time, finishing the period more than $340,000 on hand.

So Kantrowitz, a lawyer, former Navy Reserve Admiral and political newcomer, is taking a different tack to get his message out. His campaign has been producing quirky, low-budget video spots and posting them on YouTube, in the hopes that supporters will spread them through the region's online social fabric.

In an interview with PolitickerPA.com, Kantrowitz downplayed the notion that his meager war chest was forcing him to look to cheap alternatives for political messaging, and said he intended to buy advertising in more mainstream media before Election Day. He described the YouTube videos as tools to be used in conjunction with more traditional advertising, not instead of it.

"I think it's a great means to get to people, particularly young people," Kantrowitz said. "I think it's important to use the means that's out there. This is what's popular now; this is what's effective now.

"I think it's a fun medium and a way to reach a lot of people at a reasonable price," he added.

Kantrowitz is hoping to unseat Dinniman, a longtime Chester County Commissioner, two years after Dinniman snatched the seat from GOP hands for the first time in more than a century.

In one of the videos, local Republican committeeperson David Bonner leafs through all the pamphlets with Dinniman's name on them that are given out to constituents at the district office. Standard practice for lawmakers, Bonner laments that they come at taxpayer expense, before Kantrowitz comes on screen to say he's running for office because he believes "all these brochures represent the tip of the spending iceberg for Pennsylvanians."

In another video (embedded below), Bonner lists pork-barrel expenditures by the legislature with a costumed pig in the background.