After months of anticipation, they’ve finally arrived. Tory attack ads against Michael Ignatieff!

Will they air? Who knows. It’s a tactical shift to leak it out on Stephen Taylor’s blog, rather than doing a big press conference in the death star – I’ll be very curious to see what kind of earned media these get.

I’ve always loved the irony of attack ads which attack your opponent for attacking you. I eagerly anticipate the Liberal response:

“Stephen Harper has said nothing about the economy. Instead, he spends his time attacking the Liberals for attacking him rather than talking about the economy. Is this the kind of leader you want?”

As for the rest of it, it’s not a bad ad. Solid B+ territory I’d say. Everyone knew “time out of the country” was Iggy’s biggest liability, and the “Just Visiting” tag is catchy. They mix in some stuff about the lack of Liberal policy for good measure, mainly so that it can be spun as a “substance ad” rather than just a cheap shot.

So, the real question is what kind of media buy this will have, and whether or not it’s the start of a full-blown summer offensive, or just a one-off warning shot, scheduled to deflect attention away from Mulroney.