Blago TV spot slams Topinka's 8th grade attendance

CHICAGO (ap) -- Governor Rod Blagojevich has another campaign commercial, this time attacking state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka's record of attendance when she was an eighth grader in Riverside.

The new 15-second ad was introduced at a news conference today by Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn. It joins at least five Blagojevich campaign spots already running statewide.

The new commercial accuses Topinka of missing eight days of school because of various illnesses, including chicken pox. She was also tardy three times that year and left school early one day to attend accordion practice, according to the commercial.

"Judy thought her permanent record wouldn't follow her throughout life, but she was wrong," Quinn said, "dead wrong."

Each of the attack ads ends with a voiceover wondering, "What's she drinking?" Future spots in the series will question Topinka's choice of hairdresser, her parking ticket from 1987, a game of "Spin the Bottle" with Future Teachers of America club members when she was a sophomore in high school, and her involvement with the West Suburban Chapter of the Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority.