With unemployment at 9.6 percent and the economy still struggling, the latest vogue in political ads is attacking the other guy for living it up.  The National Republican Senatorial Committee released an ad this week taking note of the Washington living arrangements of the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, saying, “Harry lives at the Ritz-Carlton while thousands are losing their homes.”  Sharron Angle, Mr. Reid’s Republican opponent, picked up on the theme in two new spots of her own. In one, she compares Mr. Reid, “living large in the D.C. Ritz-Carlton,” to the voters of Nevada, “living in the state with the highest unemployment rate, worried about paying the mortgage.” In another, she mocks him as “another multimillionaire just trying to make ends meet.”  Mr. Reid is not the only one whose home has made a cameo appearance in a political ad. In the Senate race in West Virginia, Gov. Joe Manchin III, the Democratic candidate, released a radio ad this week that attacked his opponent, John Raese, a Republican businessman, on two fronts: for his stance on insuring people with pre-existing medical conditions and for his home in Florida.  “That’s O.K. for John Raese, who lives in a Palm Beach, Florida, mansion with a pink marble driveway,” said the ad’s narrator. “But it’s not O.K. for the rest of us, who work to pay our bills and struggle to afford insurance.”  A Manchin television ad featured a picture of Mr. Raese’s house, complete with towering palm trees.  Rush Limbaugh, trying to help Mr. Raese, added another element to the Palm Beach picture: “I happen to know John Raese,” Mr. Limbaugh said. “He is a part-time resident here in Palm Beach and he has a locker right across the bench from me at a prominent local club.” The comment ricocheted around the Web, as people scrambled to uncover the “prominent local club” in question. (Verdict: The exclusive Everglades Club).  Florida real estate has also played a role in another campaign, the governor’s race in Maine. Ann LePage, the wife of the Republican candidate, Paul LePage, was ordered to pay $1,400 in back property taxes and penalties after receiving tax credits on her homes in both Florida and Maine.  Jon Runyan, who is running for Congress in New Jersey, found his 20-acre property —the long driveway and ornate black gate, the swimming pool, the plush red parlor — featured in a political ad of his Democratic opponent, John Adler. The ad pointed out that Mr. Runyan had purchased a donkey in an attempt to get a break on property taxes.  “Except Runyan doesn’t call it a house, he tried to call it a farm,” the ad’s narrator says.  It seems like the best advice that a political consultant could offer now is obvious: forget the fancy hotels, the corporate jets, the spacious mansions and, oh yes, the private islands.  Matt Doheny, a Republican who is running in New York, became a target of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for, among other things, an island he purchased.  “While we struggle, Matt Doheny relaxes on his private island of Caprice with millions made from our misery,” said the ad, which juxtaposes two people sitting on a beach in straw hats, taking in a sunset, with images of economic strife.  Even candidates who are not out there living it up can find themselves under attack simply for having money.  All of the Republican senatorial committee’s news releases and e-mail refer to Senator Barbara Boxer of California as “Millionaire Senator Boxer.” As in: “Millionaire Senator Boxer’s massive health care overhaul slams California seniors with higher costs,” from an October press alert.  An official from the Democratic committee said that the organization also had a list of millionaires to go after. In ad after ad, narrators refer to “millionaire Mike Kelly,” who is running for Congress in Pennsylvania, “millionaire banker” Francisco Canseco, who is running for Congress in Texas, and “millionaire” Jim Renacci, who is running for Congress in Ohio. (In the ad against Mr. Renacci, a waitress carrying a lobster glides by).  Some candidates are fighting back. In an interview with John Harwood of The New York Times and CNBC, Mr. Reid — who has long emphasized his roots in a poor mining town — dismissed the notion that his Ritz-Carlton condominium was a palace.  “They keep talking about this palatial estate I have, a penthouse,” Mr. Reid said. “Have you ever heard of a penthouse being on the second floor? This penthouse I have is less than 2,000 square feet and has one bedroom.”  Mr. Reid has a neighbor at the Ritz: Carly Fiorina, the Republican Senate candidate in California, and her husband keep a residence there. And while no ad has attacked Ms. Fiorina for her hotel-home, the Ritz-Carlton might very well make another political cameo before Election Day.
If a candidate has a big house, a pool or, in one case, an island, the opposition is sure to make note of it.