The Ashley Ad and Sports

You may be aware of the very touching ad that will be running in many of the so-called battle states. The ad tells the story of the moving encounter of Ashley Faulkner, who lost her mother on September 11th, and President Bush. The ad can be seen here.

You may also know that the ad will be the centerpiece of THE largest ad-buy of the campaign. An estimated $14.2 million will be spent on the Ashley ad campaign.

What you may not know is that the money man behind the group sponsoring the ad is San Diego Chargers owner Alex Spanos. The group running the Ashley ads is a 527 called Progress for America Voter Fund. The largest contributor to this group has reportedly been Alex Spanos (who has given a reported $5 million).

Spanos is the wealthy owner of the Chargers who came from very humble beginnings.

Spanos was born September 28, 1923, in Stockton, California. He developed his tireless work ethic early, starting at age eight in his father's restaurant, rising before dawn to help prepare pastries before attending school. In 1951, Spanos borrowed $800, purchased a truck and set out on his own. He began his own catering business and later began investing in real estate. In 1960 he formed the A.G. Spanos Construction Company.

Spanos was a close friend of Bob Hope and he had Rush Limbaugh write the forward to an autobiography Spanos wrote. The book was called Sharing the Wealth which sounds like a strange name for the autobiography of such a successful capitalist.

This gives me another reason to root for the Chargers but it also makes me wonder if Spanos ever had any political discussions with Doug Flutie (who was a very visible supporter of Hillary Clinton when she was running for the Senate and Flutie was playing for the Bills).