I got all  Roger Ebert (with a thumbs down) on the last TV ad for Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna, comparing it to the successful, macho ad for Democratic candidate Jay Inslee, which seems to have boosted Inslee in the polls.

The powerful Inlsee ad focused on jobs and bulldozers and hard hats. In comparison, McKenna's ad featured him in his sparkly suburban home—a bit out of touch with the average recession-era voter with his iPad and Leave It To Beaver kids.

This is a recession election, and much like the famous 1992 "It's the Economy, Stupid" election, McKenna clearly got outplayed by Inslee on TV, ceding the "jobs, jobs, jobs" script to Inslee while McKenna was jogging with his wife and boasting that he and his daughter had both served as UW student body president.

McKenna makes up for it in his second ad. This one is about jobs and stars McKenna on the shop room floor. Here's the challenge for McKenna, though. He doesn't want to pull a Michael-Dukakis-in-a-tank gaffe. (Scrawny, wimpy, Democratic candidate Mike Dukakis infamously tried to buff up his image in the 1988 Presidential election by riding in a tank. It backfired and only underscored the notion that Democrats didn't fit as commanders in chief.)

McKenna, the wimpy Republican in this instance, knows he can't pull off a beer commercial like the rugged Inslee can, so he tweaks the setting and plays to his strengths while still shooting a jobs ad: He's in labs with gizmos, talking to workers in white coats, standing in front of a dry erase board,  and hustling through the hall in what looks like an episode of LA Law.

This is McKenna's version of a jobs ad. And while it still might run the risk of not connecting with the important working-class voter, it steals Inslee's new economy script. Ironically, it makes Inslee—supposedly Mr. Green/Biotech Jobs—look a little retro with his bulldozer. And it dovetails perfectly with McKenna's game plan: to win the trust of suburban voters.

McKenna gets an A for imagery and bonus points for undercutting Inslee. (I'm having a hard time seeing Inslee in a lab without knocking over a beaker.)

But while the imagery is good, McKenna goes off-script with, well, the script. The key to winning these voters for McKenna (and to winning an election in blue Washington State) is to not sound like a Republican. (Notice that his campaign to date has been all about funding education—typically a Democratic issue.)

Unfortunately, McKenna sounds a bit like Mitt Romney; in a 30 second-spot he manages to say "job creators" or "job creation" four times and "private sector" three times, with trains of thought like this one: "We need to create a better climate for job creation in the private sector. As governor I'll work hard to support private sector job creation. We'll make Washington State work better for all of our job creators."

On balance, a much better ad than his first one—finding the sweet spot between his pointy headed image and the jobs issue, while stealing Inslee's new economy rap at the same time.