COLUMBUS, Ohio—Campaign ads for fictional presidential candidate Hugh Jidette (jih-DETT) are hitting TVs and billboards as part of an effort to raise awareness about the federal deficit.
If the name sounds like “huge debt,” that’s intentional. The Washington, D.C.-based Peter G. Peterson Foundation designed it that way. Their campaign is especially focused in Columbus and Denver.
Its $6 million effort aims to educate and increase awareness to promote bipartisan solutions to the federal fiscal crisis. The ads direct viewers to a website where they can get involved.
Vice Chairman Michael Peterson says a recent foundation survey of former elected officials found 100 percent of both Democrats and Republicans strongly agree that the federal government is on an unsustainable path.
