New pro-amendment ad features Phil Berger Jr.

The pro-amendment Vote for Marriage group has another ad rebutting claims that a provision adding a marriage definition to the state constitution will impact domestic violence protections. 

One point of interest: the ad features Rockingham County District Attorney Phil Berger Jr., who is the son of Sen. Phil Berger, the president pro tempore of the Senate.

I asked Berger if his dad had asked him to weigh in on the campaign and he said no. This, he said, was a matter of trying to set the record straight in his mind. 

The footage in the video comes from a news conference at the General Assembly building earlier this week. 

Earlier this week, it looked like Vote for Marriage might be running on fumes in terms of campaign financing, which would have made a new ad irrelevant. (The best ad in the world will have no impact if you can't pay to put it on television.) However, a recent 48-hour report filed with the board of elections show the group recently got a $225,000 cash infusion from two sources.

More than half of that came from the National Organization for Marriage, which has been backing the amendment all along. Another $100,000 came from Cindy Marrelli*, listed as a "homemaker" in Raleigh on the disclosure form. The form also suggests that Marrelli's contribution may be a loan.

The same 48-hour report shows the Christian Action League also chipped in another $26,119.71 in the waning days of the campaign. 

* The 48-hour report spells Marrelli's name with one r, but tax records show it is spelled with two.